  .:3 ,i 1 `1 "T]
       I',lj
!7
  -:,:>, 1 g&
    UP ;
1  :-  Yj.;~~  1
~~NDMD




   A Reformed
   Semi-Monthly
                     B",,!"`
                                                                       j
   Magazine





                       "Our Lord has written the promise of the resurre'ction,
                                        not in books alone,
                                  but in every leaf in springtime."
                                                                             Martin Luther


   Vol. 71, No. 3.4
  April 15, 2995


                                                                                                                                                                                                            ,., .,__ . ..-..-, 1
     CONTENTS:                                                                                                                                      April  15,  1995                                        iii@:j
I                                                                                                                                                                                                    I                   I/ 0
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   C.,> ,,: 3' I  M
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     &D!
     Meditation - Rev, Richard Moore
          Ctirist Is Risen!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..**........................... 339
     Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                                                                                                  ISSN 0362-4692
          A Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism                                                                                                                                                          Semi-monthly, except monthly during June,  July, and August.
          2. Revelation 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..`..~~............................~~....~.....~. 341                                                                      Publlshed  by the Refonnsd  Free Publlshlng Assoclatlon,  Inc.,
                                                                                                                                                                                                          4949   Ivanrent  Ave., Qrandvllle, MI 43413.  Second  Class
     Letters                    *.........,.............................................,............*....*,*...............                                                                343           P&age  Pald  at Qmndvllle,  Mlchlgan.
     Apples of Gold - Mrs. Thelma Westra                                                                                                                                                                  P&III&H:   Sfmd  address changes to the Standard  Bearer,
          The Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345    P.O. Box 603, Grandville,  MI 43433-0303.
     Ministering to the Saints - Mr. Gordon Schipper                                                                                                                                                      EDlTORtAL  COMMllTEE
          The Office of Deacon: Its Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.......................... 346                                                                                            Edtor: Prof. Davld J. Engelsma
                                                                                                                                                                                                          secretary: Prof. Robert  D. Decker
     A Word Fitly Spoken - Rev. Dale Kuiper                                                                                                                                                               Mmaglng  Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
          Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~.......*...*..............*.....                     348           DEPARTMENT  EDITORS
     All Around Us - Prof. Robert D. Decker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.........n.................. 349                                                                                          Rev.  Wilbur   Brulnsma,  Rev. Ronald  Cammenga, Prof. Robelt
                                                                                                                                                                                                          Decker, Rev. MedenHartog,  Rev. RusssilDyksba, Rev.  Barry
     Taking Heed to the Doctrine - Rev, Bernard Woudenberg                                                                                                                                                @ittern,  Rev. Cad Haak, Rev. Ja8on  Kottedng,  Rev. Cornellus
          The Covenant Promise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~............. 350                                                   Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rw. John  Hey%   Rev.  Dale
                                                                                                                                                                                                          Kulper,  Ma. James  Lantlng,  Mm.  MaryBeth  Lubbers, Rev.
     A Cloud of Witnesses - Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                                                                                                                                         Jaikishln   Mahtanl, Rev. Thomas  Mlersma,  Rev.  Chaties
          Alexander Henderson: Covenanter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.*.*.................. 353                                                                                           Tsrpstra,  Rev. QlaeVanBaren,  Rev. Ronald VanDvedoop,  Mr.
                                                                                                                                                                                                          Benjamin  Wlgger,   Rev. Bernard  Woudenbe?g.
     Day of Shadows - Homer Hoeksema
          The Last Four Days of Creation-Week (cont.) . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.**.........*. 355                                                                                                       EDITOMAL  OFFICE             CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                                                                                                                                          The Standard Bearer          Mr. Ben  Wlgger
     News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358                                                                                       4940 lvanmst                 8597   4IXh  Ave.
                                                                                                                                                                                                          Qrandvllle, Ml 49413         Hudsonvllle,  Ml 49426
                                                                                                                                                                                                          BUSINESS  OFFICE             NEW  2EAtAND  OFFtCE
                                                                                                                                                                                                          The Standard B+erer          The Standard Bearer
       i!rn TMS ksS;iyi@  I) c ,?                                                                                                                                                                         Don  Doezema
                                                                                                                                                                                                          P.O. Box 603                 iEklzr
                                                                                                                                                                                                          Qrandvllle, MI               Walnuloma&, New Zealand
          All of the letters in this issue have in common that they come from cities                                                                                                                                                   NORTHERN  IRELAND  OFFICE
                                                                                                                                                                                                          PH~$%30                      c/o Mr. Jonathan  MoAuley
     where there is no Protestant Reformed Church (PRC). Although associated                                                                                                                                       (616) 533-1773      1134  Church Rd.,  Qlenwhery
                                                                                                                                                                                                          FAX:  (616) 531.3033         Ballymena,  Co. Antrlm  BT42 3EL
     in the public mind with these churches, the magazine is read outside these                                                                                                                                                        Norlhem  Ireland
     circles by men and women who have an interest in the issues of the Re-                                                                                                                               EMTORWPOUCY
                                                                                                                                                                                                          Evuy  editor  Is  solely  responsible  for the contents of hls own
     formed faith and life treated on its pages.                                                                                                                                                          a&lee.  ConMbutlonsofgensrsllnterestfromourreadersand
          Tucson, Arizona questions interpretation of I Thessalonians 5:22: "ap-                                                                                                                          que&tione  for  The Reader  A&s  department are welcome.
                                                                                                                                                                                                          Centrlbutlane   will  be limited to  approximately  300 words and
     pearance of evil.,                                                                                                                                                                                   mustbeneatlyv&tenortypewr&en,andmuetbeslgned.Copy
          Winnipeg, Manitoba appreciates that misrepresentation of the PRC in                                                                                                                             deadllnes are the  flmt  and fifteenth of the month. All
                                                                                                                                                                                                          commtmlcatlons  relatlvs  to tie contents should be sent to the
     another Reformed periodical was straightened out in the Standard Bearer.                                                                                                                             edbdel  office.
          Lawrence, Michigan challenges the description of a Congregational theo-                                                                                                                         REPRINT POLICY
     logian as a "Presbyterian" and gets the correction desired.                                                                                                                                          Ponnlodon  Is herebygrantedforthe  reprlntlng  of articles  In our
                                                                                                                                                                                                          nuOarkrobyotherpubllcatlonr,provided:a)thatwchreprlnted
          As the Lawrence correspondent notes, he has recently published a new                                                                                                                            an!des  are  mpmduced  In full;  b) that proper acknowledgment
     edition of "the historic Puritan Congregational Church Order," the Cum-                                                                                                                              I8 made:  c) that a copy of the  pe&dkal  In which  such reprint
                                                                                                                                                                                                          eppeam b sent  to our ednorlel  ofke.
     &tidge Platform  of 1648. This is the document drawn up and accepted by
     the Congregational churches in New England. This is also the document                                                                                                                                SUBSCRIPTION  POUCY
                                                                                                                                                                                                          SubscrIptIon   prka:   $12.00  per year In the U.S.,  315.00
that has become popular with the independent churches that have seceded                                                                                                                                   eleowhere.   Unloso  a definite  request  for dlscontlnuance  Is
     from the Christian Reformed Church in the past few years.                                                                                                                                            received,  il I6 assumed that the subscriber  wishes  the
                                                                                                                                                                                                          ~bscdpdontocontlnue,andhewlllbebllledforrenewal.  lfyou
          It differs radically with the church polity of both Westminster and Dordt                                                                                                                       havrechangeofaddress,plea8enotHytheBuslnessDfflceas
by rejecting the authority of the broader assemblies (synod) over the                                                                                                                                     e&y  aa  pobslble  In  order  to  avold  the Inconvenience of
                                                                                                                                                                                                          lntwpted  dellvely. Include your  Zip or Postal Code.
     consistory. Thus it rejects the federation of churches.                                                                                                                                              ADVERTISINQ  POLICY
          This significant church order of Congregationalism will be reviewed in a                                                                                                                        The S&nddrdSeumrdoes  not except commsfclal  advarllslng
     future issue of this magazine.                                                                                                                                                                       of eny kind. Announcements of church and schooi events,
                                                                                                                                                                                                          wnlvemarlee,   obituarlee,  and sympathy resolutions   will  be
          Those who like to obtain a copy of this edition of the Cam&ridge Hat-                                                                                                                           plaoedforaSlO.Wfee.  TheaeshwMbesenttotheBuslness
@HZ, can order it from the Reformed Tract Publication Committee, P.O. Box                                                                                                                                 OMcoMddwuldbeaccompanledbythe$lO.M)fee.                 Deadllne
                                                                                                                                                                                                          for  ~nnixmcementa  I8 at  least one month prior to puMlcatlon
     691, Lawrence, MI 49064-0691. Cost is $12.00.                                                                                                                                                        date.
          It includes a 1Zpage introduction to the Platform by the publisher. His                                                                                                                         BOUNDVOLUYES
bias is pronounced: H . . . the hierarchical system of Presbyterianism."                                                                                                                                  The Burlneas Cfflce will accept standIng  orders for bound
          The cover picture of this issue was taken by Mrs. Marilyn Wassink,                                                                                                                              mple6ofthewnentvolume.  Suchordersarefllledassoonas
                                                                                                                                                                                                          posdble  after c~npletlon of a volume year.
member of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Holland, Michigan.
                                                                                                                                                                                    - DJE                 1Smm  mlcmfllm,  33mm mlcmfilm  and 105mm mlcmflche, and
                                                                                                                                                                                                          mtloie   coplea  am  avallable through  Untvemtty   Mlcmfilms
                                                                                                                                                                                                          Intemational.
338lStandard Bearer/April 15,1995


                                       Christ Is Risen!

                                               I                                                                                             I
         In this meditation we have an              faith that somehow they would be          was sin that had brought Jesus to
     occasion for great rejoicing and glad-         able to carry out their task              the cross and to the grave! Our sin!
     ness as the elect church of Christ                 In the women that came to the             But the cross and the grave are
     dwelling in the midst of a sin cursed          grave that morning we have a pic-         not the end. Into the holy presence
     world. We would consider the                   ture of the church of the ages, of        of God we may come, for Christ is
     simple declaration of the Scripture            God's people who, walking in sub-         risen!
     as it is set forth in Mark 16:6, where         mission to God and filled with love
     we read, "And he saith unto them,              for their Lord, find blessing in His      Risen indeed!
     Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of            service. Even in His death they               This is the glorious message that
     Nazareth, which was crucified: he              would still serve Him by this work        the angel had for the women as they
     is risen; he is not here: behold the           of love. However, as is always true       came to the grave, and for us as we
     place where they laid him." The in-            of members of Christ's body when          hear the testimony of our text. As
     struction of the passage is one that           traveling down life's pathway, the        we consider the wonder of this truth
     we have heard many times in the                women still struggled, in their ser-      and its true significance for the
     past; but for God's children this tes-         vice, with sin of the flesh. This be-     women and for us, we would first
     timony never does grow old. This               came apparent as they came close          take note of the fact that we have
     is especially true because it speaks           to the tomb and became afraid. We         here the record of the Scripture that
     to us the word of salvation and is             read in Mark 16:5, "And entering          Jesus in fact has risen from the grave.
     the central theme around which all             into the sepulchre, they saw a young      The presence of the women at the
     of the Scripture is set.                       man sitting on the right side, clothed    grave serves to verify the fact that
                                                    in a long white garment; and they         Jesus arose. It was providentially
     The morning of Resurrection Day                were affrighted." They were afraid        brought to pass that the church
         The women approached the                   when they saw the angel of the Lord       might have the eye-witness account
     grave of Jesus early in the morning            at the sepulcher - not because Jesus      that Jesus was raised from the grave.
     on Resurrection Sunday intending to            body was not there, but because they      There is in fact an overwhelming tes-
     anoint the body of Christ properly.            came into the presence of the holi-       timony that Jesus has risen bodily.
     It was with sorrow in their hearts             ness of God reflected.in the angel.       It is a testimony that begins with the
     that they approached the tomb, for                 We ought to have, and by the          women coming to the grave, where
     they were separated from their Mas-            grace of God we will have, this same      it is declared by the angel waiting
     ter by His death. And, yet, they               trembling before God's holiness           there, "He is not here, but risen."
     came to His tomb to finish the work            when we come into the house of            The grave itself, with the burial
     of love.     They would properly               God, as we stand before His Word          clothes and their position, gave tes-
     anoint His body for His burial,                as it is proclaimed from Lord's Day       timony that Jesus had risen. And
     which they were not able to accom-             to Lord's Day.     How could it be        there were many appearances of
     plish before the Sabbath Day. Even             otherwise as we still dwell in this       Christ to the church of the day, that
     as they approached the tomb they               flesh? As we dwell in this earth,         made this clear, Surely He arose.
.    had questions as to how they would             this must needs be our reaction be-           Jesus' human soul is united with
     remove the stone that closed the               cause, simply stated, we are sinners.     a body glorified and raised from the
     mouth of the tomb. But they con-               And, as sinners entering the pres-        grave. We are given a glimpse of
     tinued on toward the tomb in the               ence of God, we are conscious that        what our own resurrection will be
                                                    we are worthy only of judgment, as        like, for the body Jesus received is
                                                    were also these women. Certainly,         altogether different from the body
                                                    against the holiness of the angel, who    He had while He lived with us in
     Rev. Moore is pastor of the Protestant         was come from the presence of God,        our flesh (as we learn from Jesus'
     Reformed Church of Hull, Iowa.                 sin stands out in stark contrast. It      conversation with Mary Magdalene:

                                                                                                        April 15,1995/Standard Bearer1339


Touch Me not). Yet the body is the            the transgressors; and he bare the           Further, in our very soul is the
same, from the point of view that             sin of many, and made intercession       abiding conviction that the condem-
He received His own body glorified,           for the transgressors (Is. 53:10-12).    nation of our sin cannot be escaped
as is evident from the fact that the                                                   in any other way than through the
apostles could and did recognize                In perfect obedience and righ-         death and resurrection of our Lord
that this was their Lord that they          teousness Christ bore the sin of those     and Savior. Only when we receive
were able to see. And now, as the           given Him, and He receives a por-          the testimony of the resurrection can
women came to the tomb, the angel           tion with the great, being exalted to      there be any hope. But, like the
brings the message that He is not           the throne of God. We see in               women at the grave, we too need
here, but risen; and thus God gives         Colossians 1:15-19 that this was de-       not be afraid, for Christ is not in the
testimony to the wonder of the res-         termined in God's eternal counsel,         grave, but is risen! Risen in victory,
urrection. The grave could not hold         and that all of creation served this       in righteousness, not only for Him-
Christ. Death could have no vic-            sacrifice of Jesus for the church,         self, but also for us! Therefore this
tory.                                       which is the body of Christ, who is        became the heart of the preaching,
    In Jesus Christ is fulfilled the        the beginning, the firstborn from the      from the very first sermon that Pe-
Scripture recorded in Isaiah  53:7:         dead, that in all things Christ might      ter preached after Pentecost. The
"He was oppressed, and he was af-           have the preeminence unto the glory        preaching of the cross and resurrec-
flicted, yet he opened not his mouth:       of God. This means that the resur-         tion was central to the preaching of
he is brought as a lamb to the slaugh-      rection of our Lord is set in the eter-    the apostles, and it continues to be
ter, and as a sheep before her shear-       nal counsel of the living God, and         the true gospel proclaimed in the
ers is dumb, so he openeth not his          that Jesus on the cross accomplished       church today.
mouth." He had been mocked, re-             that eternal will of the Father per-           By the resurrection God declares
buked, judged, and crucified with-          fectly. Therefore we are given to          that Jesus is He "who was delivered
out justification. He bore our griefs       understand that the God of our sal-        for our offenses, and was raised
and was bruised for our iniquities;         vation knew each of His children by        again for our justification" (Rom.
but now in His resurrection we have         name, and had chosen them in His           425). As the Spirit of Christ applies
the public declaration of God that          Son to be saved from their sin ex-         this word to our hearts, and we see
speaks of His innocence and of His          actly through this means of the cross      Jesus' broken body and shed blood
righteousness. It is the word of God        and Jesus' resurrection. All the           and His resurrection, we know that
saying unto His Son, "Well done, my         works of God were subservient to           all is well and that there is peace.
good and faithful Servant." Jesus is        this end - they were to serve the          Our conscience is delivered from all
publicly justified and exalted, and         glory of God through the salvation         that which would trouble our souls.
this exactly as the representative of       of His people in the perfect obedi-        For indeed now are we partakers of
those given Him of the Father.              ence of the Son through the death of       Christ's resurrection!
    The blessed testimony at the            the cross. For Jesus was determined            On the basis of His satisfaction
`tomb that morning is that there is         before the foundation of the world         by blood, the Spirit is poured out
salvation for those chosen in Christ.       to be the firstborn of many breth-         and we are made dead to sin, so
This is expressed in the prophecy           ren, and this exactly by removing          that no longer do we live therein. It
from Isaiah 53, which is fulfilled by       our guilt by the atonement and by          is in this strength of faith that we
Jesus' death and resurrection. We           His being raised as the firstborn from     are able to and do stand in the pres-
quote:                                      the dead.                                  ence of God, seeking all things of
                                                                                       Him. For by the Spirit of Christ we
    Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise       With great blessing                        are made partakers of Christ's res-
  him; he hath put him to grief: when           The resurrection is central in the     urrection life. Paul teaches us in Ro-
  thou shalt make his soul an offer-        proclamation of the gospel. The true       mans 6~4-5:  "Therefore we are bur-
  ing for sin, he shall see his seed, he    church is content and blessed in           ied with him by baptism into death:
  shall prolong his days, and the plea-     preaching the Christ crucified and         that like as Christ was raised up
  sure of the Lord shall prosper in         raised. This is the testimony that we
  his hand. He shall see of the tra-                                                   from the dead by the glory of the
                                            need to hear, for no matter where
  vail of his soul, and shall be satis-                                                Father, even so.we also should walk
  fied: by his knowledge shall my           Gods children turn, there is in this       in newness of life. For if we have
  righteous servant justify many; for       life a continual testimony that op-        been planted together in the likeness
  he shall bear their iniquities. There-    poses them. There is a testimony           of his death, we shall be also in the
  fore will I divide him a portion          that we are guilty of sin and trans-       likeness of his resurrection:" We
  with the great, and he shall divide       gression against the living God. We        have therefore the assurance that all
  the spoil with the strong; because        know that the wages of sin is death;       things shall work together for our
  he hath poured out his soul unto          and as by grace we see this, it dwells     good. We may go forth on this pil-
  death: and he was numbered with           in our consciousness every day.            grims' pathway knowing that God

340lStandard Bearer/April 15,1995


shall surely bring to pass His coun-            know, he also did predestinate to be      did predestinate, them he also called:
sel. We shall with Christ be glori-             conformed to the image of his Son,        and whom he called, them he also
fied, as Paul promises in Romans                that he might be the firstborn among      justified: and whom he justified,
8:29-30: "For whom he did fore-                 many brethren. Moreover whom he           them he also glorified." 0





                                    A Deferise of
        (Reformed) Amillennialism
                                           2. Revelation 20

                                           I                                                                                       i
    The name by which the distinc-              During this period two important          opposition to infant baptism, and
tively Reformed doctrine of the last            events take place. One occurs in the      embrace of the dread doctrine and
things is known is "amillennialism."            abyss: Satan is bound. The other          practice of antinomism (lawlessness
This name derives from the 20th                 happens in heaven: the martyrs live       of life with appeal to "grace").
chapter of Revelation. Six times in             and reign with Christ.                        On the other hand, there is the
verses l-7 is mentioned a period of                                                       serious error tolerated, if not pro-
"a thousand years." An angel binds                        Millennial Error                moted, by Reformed and Presbyte-
Satan for "a thousand years" (w. 1,                                                       rian churches, that finds in Revela-
2). The result is that Satan cannot                 The matter of the millennium,         tion 20 the basis for expecting a car-
deceive the nations for "a thousand             mentioned only in Revelation 20, has      nal kingdom of Christ that will be
years" (v. 3). John sees certain souls          come to require more attention in         victorious according to earthly stan-
living and reigning with Christ "a              eschatology (the church's doctrine of     dards. Not only does this error,
thousand years" (w. 4,6). The rest              the last things) than Scripture would     known as postmillennialism (since it
of the dead lived not again until the           suggest. The thousand year period         postpones Christ's coming to the end
"thousand years" were finished (v.              is just one more feature of the rev-      of the future earthly golden age),
5). When the "thousand years" ex-               elation of the end in the book of Rev-    find in Revelation 20 the basis of a
pire, Satan is loosed, deceives the             elation. The reason why the subject       carnal kingdom, but it also finds in
nations, and makes war against the              receives so much attention, and must      this chapter a mandate to the church
saints (w. 7-9).                                receive so much attention, is that se-    to get busy to "Christianize" this
    The term "millennium," of Latin             rious doctrinal errors have attached      world. Any church that declines this
origin, means `thousand years.'                 themselves to the millennium of           mandate is severely criticized, if it
"Amillennialism," therefore, is the             Revelation 20.                            is not heartily damned.
teaching about the thousand year                    On the one hand, there is the             The effect of this interpretation
period of Revelation 20 that  denies            grievous heresy that bewitches mul-       of Revelation 20 is the radical, total
that this period is a literal one thou-         titudes of supposed evangelicals and      reconstruction of Reformed escha-
sand year period of history during              fundamentalists so that they expect       tology. No longer are there signs of
which Christ will establish an earthly          a carnal kingdom of the Jews in Pal-      the return of Christ; no longer does
kingdom in the world. Positively,               estine, preceded by a secret "rap-        the earthly future hold abounding
amillennialism holds that the thou-             ture" of the church. This bizarre         lawlessness; no longer are we to an-
sand year period of Revelation 20 is            teaching involves denial of the one-      ticipate great apostasy; no longer are
a figurative description of the entire          ness of Old Testament Israel and the      the saints to prepare for Antichrist;
period from Christ's exaltation until           New Testament church, rejection of        no longer are we to brace ourselves
shortly before His second coming.               the unity of the covenant of grace,       for a great tribulation.

                                                                                                   April 15,1995/Standard Bearer/341


     Especially because of these mil-      tion  20:4-6 are those men and                naturally fly to heaven. The Heidel-
lennial errors, Reformed and Pres-         women who had been beheaded for               berg Catechism indicates Christ's
byterian people must be clear as to        their faithful confession of Christ in        raising of the soul of the believer at
the meaning of Revelation 20.              time of antichristian persecution             death in Question 57: "my soul af-
                                           throughout the present age.                   ter  this life shall  be  . . . taken up  to
   The Meaning of Revelation 20                At the instant of death, the              Christ its head."
                                           martyred saint is taken up in his soul            The saint goes to heaven by res-
     "A thousand years" is a figura-       to be with Christ in heaven, and              urrection, and only by resurrection.
tive, or symbolical, description of the    there he lives and reigns with Christ.        There are two stages. The first is
entire age of the new covenant. The            Living with Christ in heaven in           the resurrection of the soul. This is
number 1,000 is a symbolical num-          the soul at the instant of physical           the resurrection of Revelation  20:5.
ber, made up as it is of the number        death is the "first resurrection" (v.         The second is the resurrection of the
10. In the Bible, 10 is the number of      5). The postmillennialists argue that         body. This is the second resurrec-
completeness. The symbolical. na-          the living and reigning with Christ           tion, implied by the first resurrec-
ture of the thousand year period is        cannot refer to the intermediate state        tion of Revelation 20:5.
in harmony with the symbolical             because the life of the soul at death             Accordingly, the first death of
character of the book of Revelation,       is not resurrection.  J. Marcellus Kik,       the reprobate ungodly is the suffer-
e.g., the depiction of Satan as a great    whose commentary on Revelation 20             ing of God's wrath in his soul at the
red dragon (Rev. 12). It is also in        has been very influential among               moment of physical death. The sec-
harmony with the obviously figura-         modern postmillennialists, wrote:             ond death will be his suffering of
tive character of the binding of the       "The very fact that Revelation                God's wrath in hell in soul and body
spirit, Satan, with a great chain. In      Twenty deals with a resurrection              after the final judgment (see Rev.
addition, Revelation 20 is a vision        eliminates the interpretation that the        20:6,14).
(:`and I saw," w. 1,4), not historical     Chapter is speaking of the interme-               At the end of the thousand
observation.                               diate state of the soul"  (An                 years, Satan will be loosed for a
     The binding of Satan represents       Eschatology  of Victory, Presbyterian         short time (w. 3,7). The one who
the sovereign control and restraint        and Reformed, p. 230). The "Chris-            "letteth," or restrains, will be taken
of the devil by the Lord Jesus that        tian Reconstructionist" David                 out of the way (II Thess. 2:7). This
prevents him from deceiving the na-        Chilton has written:                          enables Satan to establish his world-
tions. During the present age, Satan                                                     kingdom under Antichrist. The re-
cannot unite the nations under An-           We can dispose of the Amillennial           sult is the final, all-out assault upon
tichrist. This restraint is related to       position right away, by pointing            the true church and her living, faith-
the "withholding" and "letting," or          out the obvious: this is a resurrec-        ful members (w. 8, 9). The "be-
restraining, of II Thessalonians 2:6,        tion,  a  rising again from  the dead.      loved city" represents the church.
7 that assures that the man of sin,          Dying and going to heaven is won-           The "saints" are all those whom the
"that Wicked" (v. S), will be revealed       derful, but, for all its benefits, it is
                                             not a resurrection. This passage            Spirit of Christ has sanctified
in his proper, God-appointed time            cannot be a description of the state        through faith in Christ.
(v. 6).                                      of disembodied saints in heaven                 After a short time of intense per-
    Throughout this same age, the            (Paradise Restored: A Biblical The-         secution of the church - the "great
martyrs  - those who were be-                ology of Dominion, Reconstruction           tribulation" of Matthew 2421 and
headed on account of the witness of          Press, p. 196).                             the "time of trouble" of Daniel 12:l
Jesus and on account of the Word of                                                      - fire from God will devour the un-
God - live and reign in heaven with            The postmillennialists are                godly in the second coming of Christ
Christ. The vision of the thrones in       wrong.                                        (cf. II Thess. 1:6-10).
Revelation  20:4-6 refers to what the-         The taking up to heaven of the                Then follow at once the final
ology calls "the intermediate state,"      soul of the believer at death is, in-         judgment and the eternal state,
that is, the life and glory of elect       deed, resurrection. There is an act           heaven and hell (Rev. 20:llff.).
saints at death and until the second       of the risen Christ upon the soul at
coming of Jesus.                           the instant of death purifying it from                 The Explanation by
    This is plain.                         all sin and transforming it from a                         Postmillennialism
    John sees "souls" sitting on the       soul adapted to earthly life into a
thrones. Earlier, in Revelation 6:9,       soul adapted to heavenly life. There              The postmillennial explanation
the apostle spoke of the souls of the      must be this resurrection of the soul         of the passage in the interests of the
martyrs under the altar in heaven.         by Christ if the soul is to be with           physical victory of an earthly king-
Those souls in heaven were distin-         Christ in heaven. Souls do not au-            dom of Christ in history is mistaken.
guished from humans dwelling on            tomatically fly away to heaven at             The explanation by J. Marcellus Kik,
earth (v. 10). The "souls" of Revela-      death. Souls of believers do not              adopted in the main by the "Chris-

342lStandard Bearer/April 15,1995


tian Reconstructionists," is an ex-        of the world." Of course, he is not             exerted herself to get dominion, Sa-
ample of this mistaken interpreta-         the almighty sovereign. The triune              tan is not yet bound. But the text
tion.                                      God is sovereign. But Satan con-                says that he has been bound:  "...
    The reign of the saints is located     trols the nations of the world as to            and bound him a thousand years"
on earth, as though the apostle never      their spiritual condition. Scripture            (v. 2).
spoke of "souls," indeed, of "souls"       calls him the "god of this world."
who had been "beheaded." Be-               History proves that for the past 1900                 Revelation 20 against the
headed souls do not live and reign         odd years now, Satan has governed                          Postmillennialists
on earth. B. B. Warfield, himself a        nations as to their spiritual and
postmillennialist, recognized that         moral life.                                          Revelation 20 is no support to
"disembodied souls" do not rule in              The binding of Satan is the re-            postmillennialism, but rather a refu-
Christ's kingdom on earth. Cor-            straint of him in this one respect:             tation of that error. The saints do
rectly, he concluded that Revelation       he cannot establish .the kingdom of             not gain earthly victory in the world;
20:4 gives us "the picture of the `in-     Antichrist. This is unacceptable to             rather, they suffer and are beheaded.
termediate state"' ("The Millennium        postmillennialism since it has de-              History does not come to its end
and the Apocalypse," in  Biblical          cided that Antichrist is a thing of             with the earthly triumph of the
Doctrines, Banner of Truth, pp. 648,       the past, having been fulfilled in the          church; rather, Satan is loosed, and
649).                                      Roman empire from about A. D. 65                the hordes of the ungodly attack the
    The postmillennialist interpreta-      to about A. D. 313.                             church and the saints. The hope held
tion supposes that Christ's taking of          Kik is also in error when he ex-            before the people of God is not a
the soul of the Christian to heaven        plains that Satan is bound by the ac-           carnal kingdom on earth; rather, it
at death is not resurrection when, in      tion of the church. The church has              is our living and reigning with
fact, only resurrection can translate      the great chain. She could almost               Christ in heaven at death.
a sinful, earthly soul to a holy, heav-    completely urestrain his influence                  This hope, with its accompany-
enly life. The postmillennialist de-       over the nations." It is the fault of           ing hope of bodily resurrection in
nies that the intermediate state in-       the church that the devil has so much           the Day of Christ, does not render
volves resurrection in the face of the     influence in the world. If only the             the Reformed amillennialist passive
explicit testimony of Revelation 20        church would heed the "Christian                on earth. On the contrary. Exactly
that the living in heaven of souls that    Reconstructionists" and exert herself           because we are assured that the
had been beheaded is the first res-        to get and wield dominion on earth,             worst that the foe can do is usher us
urrection.                                 Satan would be bound (see                       into heaven and onto our thrones,
    The  Kikkian/"Christian  Recon-        Eschafology,  p. 196).                          we are encouraged to be faithful and
struction&?" postmillennialists are            This is obviously false. The an-            diligent in our confession of the
even wrong in their explanation of         gel who binds Satan is not the                  Word of God. This is the calling of
the binding of Satan. Kik explains         church, but the servant of the as-              the church in the world.
the binding as restraining Satan from      cended Lord Jesus Christ. Christ                     And this is preparation for the
having "complete control over the          has bound Satan. Kik's explanation              "little season" that is before the
nations of the world" (Eschatology,        is a denial that Satan is actually              church, the loosing of Satan U
pp. 203-208). But Satan does have          bound. Since the church has not yet                                                 - DJE
"complete control over the nations




                                           (eidos)  in I Thessalonians 522. I was          the tax gatherers and sinners, per-
n Appearance of Evil                       reading in Strong's, Vine's, and                ceived by some to be "an appear-
    I always look forward to read-         BAGD. The passage actually exhorts              ance of evil."
ing the Stan&&  Beaver. And I do           us to abstain from true forms of evil,              We must be careful of our
mean, "look forward." I'm always           not, as Rev. Bruinsma seems to be               choices: where we go, what we do,
behind on my reading!                      saying if I understand him correctly,           and what we wear. When I stop
    Thanks to Rev. Bruinsma in the         to avoid everything that "looks like            and think about it, trying to avoid
September IS,1994 issue urging us          . . . might be . . . could possibly be . .."    everything that "might appear as sin-
to walk a godly path in life. I like       perceived by someone as evil.                   ful in the eyes of others" would be
his quote highlighted on page 489.             If  uappearancen  means "looks              an impossible task.
However, I'd ask that he take a sec-       like" wouldn't that put Jesus'                                           Duane L. Burgess
ond look at the word "appearance"          lifestyle in question? Jesus ate with                                         Tucson, AZ

                                                                                                      April 15,1995/Standard  Bearer/343


Response:                                  difficulty that is raised by Brother      opinion and views on this matter.        .
    There is some difference of opin-      Burgess: "trying to avoid everything          I am glad that Rev. Engelsma
ion as to the proper interpretation        that might appear as sinful in the        put the record straight.
of the term "appearance" in I              eyes of others would be an impos-                               H. Minderhoud
Thessalonians  5:22.  There are a          sible task." I agree whole-heartedly.            Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
number of Bible scholars that wish         If I were to meet a young woman of
to interpret the Greek term in ques-       my congregation in a restaurant in        n Can an Independent
tion as "form" rather than "appear-        order to speak with her of an im-         be a Presbyterian?
ance." They do so in order to avoid        portant matter concerning her life,           I have been reading with inter-
the perceived difficulty that is raised    it may appear to my ungodly neigh-        est the continued controversy in
in the letter of Brother Burgess.          bor as if I were being unfaithful to      your pages over postmillennialism,
    Although I do not consider it a        my wife. If I were to enter a gro-        what your paper describes as "Jew-
grave matter of exegesis, I prefer to      cery store on Sunday to buy much          ish Dreams." Since I have not done
stay with the interpretation that I        needed medicine for my child who          specialized study in eschatology, I
gave the term in my article: to ab-        took ill during the night, that might     doubt that I have much to contrib-
stain from that which might be per-        be perceived, by another child of God,    ute to the primary issue. However,
ceived by someone as evil. Here are        as a desecration of the Sabbath.          as a Congregationalist whose name
my reasons:                                Surely, we cannot avoid all appear-       is known to many readers of the
    1. The term "appearance" in            ance of evil. Nor need we, when it        Standard Bearer,  I believe that I
this passage comes from the Greek          is necessary to realize or achieve a      come under some obligation to ques-
root word (eidon) which means "to          pure and holy purpose (as it was          tion the accuracy of your editor's
see or perceive." It refers, therefore,    with Jesus). I believe, however, that     passing comment that "John Owen
to the outward perception, the ex-         this passage in I Thessalonians 5:22      was a godly, orthodox Presbyterian
ternal appearance, of something that       directs our attention to the many         theologian" (SB, 3/l/95, p. 270).
in reality might be quite different.       times we as God's children, without           I am pleased to hear Prof.
For example, in Luke 3:22, we read,        any thought for the consequences,         Engelsma describe Dr. Owen as
"And the Holy Ghost descended in           place ourselves in a situation which      "godly," "orthodox," and a "theolo-
a bodily shape like a dove upon            we could well have avoided, and           gian," but something seems to be
him." The word in this passage             which as a result offends another.        amiss when the primary author of
translated as "shape" is the same as       Even in those cases where of neces-       the Savoy Declaration of Faith and
the term translated "appearance" in        sity such appearances cannot be           Order - the 1658 revision of the
I Thessalonians 522. The Holy Spirit       avoided, the child of God who is          Westminster Confession of Faith
came down in what appeared to or           sensitive to the instruction of this      which has been the recognized doc-
wus perceived by men as a dove, but        passage will seek (if possible) other     trinal standard of Reformed Congre-
was in reality the Holy Spirit Him-        means of dealing with the situation.      gationalism for almost 240 years -
self. This same word is used simi-                         - Rev. W. Bruinsma        is described as a "Presbyterian."
larly in passages such as John 5:37                                                      This description was probably
and II Corinthians 5:7.                    n Putting                                 true in Owen's earlier years, but I
    2. This Greek word for "ap-            the Record Straight                       question the appropriateness of de-
pearance" (eidon)  is also used to             It was with a measure of dis-         scribing the primary author of a Con-
translate the Hebrew word "vision"         may that I read the article of Rev. J.    gregational doctrinal standard as a
(maarah or mareh). A vision, as we         Tuininga in the December 26, 1994         Presbyterian. Perhaps Engelsma
well know, is that which was seen          issue of Christian Renezual  in which     could provide some explanation of
or perceived by a person (even in-         he made some remarks about the            his description. Apart from further
volving the use of all his senses), yet    Protestant Reformed Churches in           explanation, it would seem to make
which was not reality, but only that       America.                                  about as much sense to identify the
which appeared to him as reality.              The response to his article is        primary authors of the Heidelberg
    3. I prefer to remain consistent       found in the editorials in the Febru-     Catechism, Zacharias Ursinus and
with this common usage of the term         ary 1 and February 15, 1995 issues        Caspar Olevianus, as Lutherans.
"appearance" when interpreting I           of the Sfundurd  Bearer.                      I'd like to hear what Engelsma
Thessalonians  5:22. A child of God            In his article, Rev. Tuininga also    has to say in response, and to have
must abstain (in as much as is pos-        makes reference to the independent        him print that response for the ben-
sible) from what may look like or be       Reformed churches, and it appears         efit of his readers. If he continues
perceived as a sin by another, even        that he is the official spokesman for     to maintain that Owen was a Pres-
though this may not have been the          these churches. This is not the case.     byterian, I would like to know if he
intention.                                 Rev. Tuininga is just giving his own      would open the pages of the Stan-
    There still exists, however, the

344lStandard Bearer/April 15,1995


dud Bearer to a serious debate of              enant of God with the children of            polity, John Owen became a congre-
the merits of Congregational polity,           believers, requiring infant baptism.         gationalist,  or independent.
perhaps pitting Owen's views                   In his "Greater Catechism" of 1645,                  It is Mr. Maurina"s  contention
against those whose Congregation-              Owen wrote as one of the questions           that, regardless of one's theology,
alism is beyond doubt. Surely                  and answers:                                 failure to maintain presbyterian
Engelsma agrees with me that there                                                          church government disqualifies one
is much confusion over church pol-               Q. 3. To whom doth this sacrament          from being, or being regarded as, a
ity in Reformed circles; perhaps a               (of baptism) belong?                       Presbyterian. Since "Reformed" is
public debate would be beneficial for            A. Unto all to whom the promise            basically the same as "Presbyterian,"
all. Speaking as the publisher of a              of the covenant is made; that is, to       failure to embrace and practice
modem edition of the historic Con-               believers, and to their seed. - Acts
                                                 ii. 39; Gen. xvii. II,. 12; Acts xvi.      presbyterian church polity disquali-
gregational church order, the 1648               15; Rom. iv. 10, 11; 1 Cor. vii. 14        fies one from being Reformed. So
Cambridge Platform, I trust that                 (The Works of John Owen, ed. Wil-          important is church polity.
Engelsma believes I might have                   liam H. Goold,  vol. 1, The Banner                 I agree with Mr. Maurina.
something to contribute to that dis-             of Truth, p. 491).                                 No theologian or church that
cussion.                                                                                    fails to maintain presbyterian church
                    Darrell Todd Maurina           The New International Dictio-            polity is Presbyterian or Reformed.
                               Lawrence, MI    nary  of the Christian Church  (ed. J.D.             I revise my description of John
                                               Douglas, Zondervan) describes                Owen accordingly: John Owen, al-
Response:                                      Owen as a "Reformed theologian"              though a Congregationalist, was a
    I referred to John Owen as a               (p. 738).                                    Calvinistic theologian who went se-
"Presbyterian theologian" in view of               Mr. Maurina is correct, however,         riously astray in his eschatology.
his strongly Calvinist theology. This          that, although having begun well as                  Yet another public debate?
included the doctrine of the cov-              an advocate of presbyterian church                                                - Ed.




                                                    The Christ
    The Christ, by Israel long expected -                              Dark the day is made to be;
            He is born!                                                    He is dead!
    Events occurred as God the Lord directed -                         He is nailed upon a tree;
            He is born!                                                    He is dead!
    In a stable, born of virgin lowly,                                 He who rode triumphantly entering Jerusalem;
   Jesus Christ, the Sinless One, Most Holy,                           He the Son of David, Rod of Judah's stem;
    Following the plan of God's decree                                 He, the hope of Israel
            He is born!                                                    He is dead!
    At the time selected in eternity                                   He has borne the pains of hell!
            He is born!                                                    He is dead!

    His, a life like ours, with one exception -                        Three days pass - death's cord is broken.
            Suff'ring One!                                                 He arose!
    Each word and deed was totally perfection -                        Fulfilled the words by prophets spoken.
            Suffring One!                                                  He arose!
   Throughout His life on earth: humiliation!                          For His own - atoning for their guilt;
   Then Passion Week -the final degradation                            Willingly for them His precious blood was spilt.
    Of holy Jesus, hanging on the cross.                               Glorious thought - it was for me
            Suff'ring  One!                                                He arose!
   Rejected by His Father - greatest loss!                             I now shall live throughout eternity!
            Suff'ring One!                                                 He arose!
                                                                                                                  Thelma Westra
                                                                                                        Faith PRC, Jenison, MI


                                                                                                        April 15,1995/Standard Bearer1345


  hiimi~t@rling  I@ /f/T@ &!i!ia                                                               h!&  Gordon  sd@qw  /


                    The Office of Deacon:
                                              Its Function

"Blessed is he that considereth  the poor:     various elements connected with the       We have no strength in ourselves.
the  LORD  will deliver him in time of         worship in the old covenant. For          Deacons must be mindful of this as-
trouble. "                                     our purpose we should note the ref-       pect of their office. As representa-
                              Psalm 41:l.      erences to the garments of the high       tives of Christ they must stand ready
                                               priest, especially the shoulder pieces    to relieve the burdens of God's
     Our first article concerning the          and the breastplate. The garments         people. The great burden that Christ
office of deacon noted that deacons            of the high priest were unique. They      bore for us was the guilt of our sins.
stand in the office of Christ in the           were "for glory and for beauty" (Ex.      Therefore, our spiritual life has its
church. In particular, deacons rep-            282). Calvin notes "that in these         source in Christ. However, we
resent Christ as He is our merciful            garments the supreme purity and           should be mindful that Christ also
High Priest. It is instructive to ask          worylrous  glory of Christ were rep-      sustains our physical life. Most of-
why the office of mercy is connected           resented." (Calvin's commentary  on       ten Christ gives us the ability and
to the high priestly aspect of Christ's        this section of Exodus is very worth-     opportunity to work and thereby
office. The first thought we usually           while.)                                   provide for our earthly needs, as
have in connection with the high                   In the ephod were two shoulder        well as support the causes of His
priest concerns the sacrifices. We             pieces that contained onyx stones         kingdom. In some cases, Christ de-
think especially of his privilege to           engraved with the names of the            termines the circumstances to be
enter the Most Holy Place on the               tribes of Israel. The high priest         such that there is not enough income
great day of atonement to sprinkle             would thus "bear their names be-          to meet earthly needs. Christ sees
blood on the mercy seat. How, then,            fore the Lord upon his two shoul-         to it that some are poor. In these
is the work of the high priest to be           ders for a memorial" (Ex. 28:12). By      cases Christ intends that their needs
reflected in the office of deacon? The         having the names of the tribes on         be supplied through the diaconate.
correspondence between the Old                 his shoulders, the high priest was        In both. cases Christ supplies the
Testament office of king and the               conscious of the fact that he did not     need, but in His wisdom He uses
New Testament office of elder is               enter into the temple ministry as an      different means. When a member
clear: they both govern. The same              individual, but that he represented       of the church is in financial need,
holds true for the offices of prophet          the entire nation before the living       the figure of high priest bearing the
and minister: they both, speak the             God. By having these names on his         nation of Israel on his shoulders
Word. But, how does the Old Tes-               shoulders, he was conscious of the        should be a blessed incentive to
tament office of high priest corre-            fact that he brought the burdens of       come to the diaconate for relief.
spond to the New Testament office              the nation before Jehovah. These          Christ will bear the burden through
of deacon? How is a deacon like                burdens included all the needs of         the deacons.
the high priest?                               the nation, physical and spiritual.           The high priest also wore a
    In order to see the relationship           This symbolism also spoke to the na-      breastplate. The breastplate was set
between the high priest and the dea-           tion. The symbolism pointed above         with twelve precious stones, a dif-
con, we do well to look closely at             all to the Messiah. It would be the       ferent stone engraved with the name
the institution of the office of high          Messiah who would bear their bur-         of each tribe in Israel. The breast-
priest as recorded in Exodus 28 and            dens.                                     plate was secured by golden chains
29. Many articles could be written                 This Old Testament type teaches       and worn over the linen garment of
concerning the significance of the             us that we can (and are called to)        the high priest. When the high priest
                                               cast all of our burdens upon the          ministered, he bore "the names of
                                               Lord - He will sustain us (Ps.            the children of Israel upon his heart"
Mr. Schipper  is a deacon in Southwest         55:22). We see that all of our            (Ex. 2829).  Calvin notes that he bore
Protestant Reformed Church.                    strength is in Christ. He carries us.     them upon his heart "not only that

346lStandard  Bearer /April 15,1995


he might present them to God, but            they still do not have enough to pay        from the effects of sin and thereby
that he might be mindful of them,            the bills. In some cases they may           silences the voice of God's judgment.
and anxious for their welfare."              have lost a job, or God may have            This is cruel.
Calvin notes also, "what was to be           taken away their ability to work. In               The deacons must also use Scrip-
fulfilled in Christ, was typified by         other cases there may be unusually          ture to show God's poor that they
the external sign under the Law; viz.,       large bills to pay. Whatever the situ-      are in a privileged situation. In
that though we sojourn in the world,         ation, the fact remains that there is       God's wisdom, He has determined
yet are we united with Christ by             not enough money to provide for             the circumstances of their life to be
faith, as if we were one with Him;           the needs of the family. This can           such that they need financial assis-
and, besides, that He takes care for         lead to bitterness, resentment, and         tance. This financial assistance
our welfare, as if He bore us en-            even despair. The devil can use any         comes through the church. (Their
closed in His heart; and, finally, that      and all of these factors in combina-        membership in the church is already
when our heavenly Father regards             tion with our sinful nature to tempt        evidence of God's mercy toward
us in Him, He esteems us above all           the poor to walk by sight, not by           them!) The financial assistance is
the wealth and splendor of the               faith. It may happen that those in          possible because God's people real-
world."                                      poverty are tempted to steal or to          ize that they have been given many
    It must live in the soul of a dea-       take the name of God in vain (Prov.         riches. They have the spiritual riches
con that he is called to have the wel-       30:8, 9).                                   that comprise the blessings of salva-
fare of God's people enclosed in his             Deacons who come to the poor            tion. First and foremost, they have
heart. He must be mindful that               with the welfare of the poor enclosed       had the debt of their sins removed!
God's people are precious in His             upon their hearts, and mindful of           In gratitude to God for the riches
sight, and He calls the deacon to see        the fact that their office requires         that they have freely received (even
to it that they are not left in distress.    them to shoulder the burden of the          though they are by nature destitute
While the primary distress the dea-          poor, have the proper spiritual per-        sinners), they give some of the
con deals with is financial need, the        spective. They have the blessed             money that God has given to them
profound spiritual dimension of his          privilege of caring for the whole per-      back to Him in thanksgiving. Thus,
office was demonstrated by the Old           son - soul and body. They must              the deacons have "many good
Testament high priest. It is not the         assure those in poverty that Christ         means" to assist those in poverty.
deacon as an individual that cares           is merciful. While discussing the                  The blessing that comes to those
for the poor. It is Christ that is con-      mercy of Christ, deacons should             who need financial assistance is also
cerned for their welfare. The dea-           point out that this mercy was re-           in this - they experience the mer-
con comes as His representative. He          vealed chiefly at the cross of Cal-               cies of Christ in a direct physical
must be asking himself, "What                vary. There Christ died in                            way. Christ comes to them
would Christ have me to do?"                 order that His people,            It is because          in a way that most of
    How does the deacon convey               who are spiritually  des-
the truth that it is Christ that is car-                                        of the cross           God's people do not ex-
                                             titute, might have the           that the deacons         perience. Christ will sup-
ing for the poor? By bringing the            riches of salvation. It is                                ply their physical needs.
Word of Christ, applying that Word                                         are there instead of
                                             because of the cross that         a government            They can come to Him
to the situation of the poor, and lead-      the deacons are there in-              agency!           without hesitation. In-
ing them in prayer. In this way the          stead of a government                                   deed, it is a confession of
deacon functions as a representative         agency! In addition to bring-                        faith to.come  to Christ! They
of the merciful High Priest. What            ing money, deacons open the Bible           look to Him to cover the debt of their
rich and instructive symbolism is            and lead God's people into the com-         sins. They also look to Him to sup-
found in the Old Testament type!             forting truth that our biggest debt         ply their daily bread. They also must
    Deacons need to realize that fi-         has been paid in full!                      know that they are a blessing for the
nancial distress brings unique spiri-            The poor in the world get finan-        entire congregation. When their cir-
tual needs to the poor. Our physical         cial assistance from the state or so-       cumstances are the occasion for the
life impacts our spiritual life. In an       cial agencies. This humanistic mercy        diaconate to function actively, Christ
affluent and materialistic age those         stands apart from the benefits of the       is active in His church. Christ is
who cannot maintain an average               cross. Proverbs  12:lO states that          present only through the offices in
standard of living can begin to covet        such "tender mercies" are in fact           the church. When the diaconate
the things that God has given to oth-        cruel. The poor in the world get            functions, Christ is with us. To lose
ers. Those who cannot provide for            temporal relief from the effects of         the diaconate would be to lose
their needs are under a great deal of        sin without seeking the forgiveness         Christ. What a wonderful promise,
stress. They are usually working as          of God for the guilt of their sins.         then, is the word of our Lord, "For
hard as possible and trying to live          They ignore their true poverty. The         ye have the poor always with you"
as economically as they can, and             world seeks to relieve its citizens         (Matt. 2Q:ll).  ~1

                                                                                                    April 15,19!35/Standard  Bearer/347


  A! MY&a! Fti& cs@wn                                                                              R&4 D&3 Rk!@c
                                                Nat-ions
         The concept nations is very important through-          gods (II Rings 17:29),  its own language, and its own
     out the Scriptures. The first times the word appears        humanistic agenda.
     is in Genesis 10, where we have the generations of              Soon after Babel, according to Genesis 12, God
     Noah and the mention of Nimrod, and in Genesis              came to Abram and said, "I will make of thee a
     11 where we have the incident of the tower of Babel.        great nation." Abraham is called the father of many
     The beginning of Nimrod's kingdom was Babel or              nations (Gen. 17:4), and receives the promise that in
     Babylon in the land of Shinar (Gen. lO:lO, Dan. 1:2).       him all the nations of the earth shall be blessed (Gen.
     It is clear, therefore, that Nimrod was the first man       18:18).  The nations are blessed and saved by the
     to aspire to world dominion, the first type of the          great Seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ, with whose
     Antichrist, and the chief enemy of the church in his        birth a nation was born at once (Is. 66:8), who is the
     day. There was one language when he inspired                desire of the nations (Hag. 2:7), who has power over
     men to build a great tower to make a name for men           the nations (Rev. 2:26), is sent for the healing of the
     and to prevent the scattering of the human race over        nations (Rev. 22:2), and will judge the nations.
     the face of the earth (Gen. 11:1-4). But what would             Israel was a kingdom of priests and an holy
    this rebellion against God's express command mean            nation (Ex. 19:6). She was the light of the nations;
    for the church? Just before this, the universal Flood        an exalted nation because of righteousness (Prov.
    had delivered the church from persecution and ex-            14:34);  unto her nations ran, and would run, be-
     tinction. Would not the establishment of a godless          cause of the Lord her God (Is. 55:5). Yet Israel had
    world power once again put the church in peril?              nothing of which to boast, for she was in herself a
         When God saw the city and the tower with the            stiffnecked people (Ex. 329). Nor did the Lord set
    people working together using one language, He con-          His love upon her and choose her because she was
    founded their speech so they could not understand            more in number than other nations, for He drove
     each other. God wounded the Antichristian beast             out seven nations greater than she  (Deut.  7~1-7).
     and prevented its rapid development. Thus nations           God's love for them was sovereign and uncondi-
     developed: some rich, some poor; fighting more              tional. Indeed, God gave nations for her ransom
     and more wars as time goes on (Matt. 247); their            and people for her life (Is. 43:3,4). Also, at the end
     attention diverted to a large extent from persecuting       of the world, the nations will be dispossessed and
     the church to ma,king a name, extending borders,            left with nothing (Dan. 2), and the holy nation of the
     and getting wealth. The result of Babel is that the         redeemed will be given the new heavens and new
     church down through the ages can go about her               earth.
    work of preaching the Gospel to all the nations as               In times past God suffered all nations to walk in
    Christ commanded (Matt.  28:19).                             their own ways, although He always left His wit-
         Just before the end of time, the wound inflicted        ness among them (Acts 1416).  On the day of Pente-
    on the nations at Babel will be healed (Rev. 13:3).          cost, with the miraculous sign of tongue-speaking
    All nations will be united and wonder after the beast        (Acts 2:5), God reveals His will to grant repentance
    (a great political and religious leader). He will speak      unto life unto the Gentiles (Acts 11:lB).  It was expe-
    blasphemies, will have power to make war with the            client that one Man should die for the people, that
    saints and overcome them, and will have dominion             the whole nation perish not; but Christ did not die
    over all tongues and nations (Rev. 13:5-7).  One great       for Israel alone, but that He should gather in one the
    leader, one world kingdom, one speech or language.           children of God scattered abroad (Acts 11:58). By
    Those who have their names written in the book of            His Word and Spirit, Christ gathers His church from
    life, and who refuse to receive the mark of the beast,       all the nations, forming them into a holy nation that
    will have no place in this kingdom. This is the              will show forth the praises of Him that called them
    beginning of the great tribulation! Thus, from the           (I Pet. 29).
    time of Nimrod to the time of Antichrist, the church             "Blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord"
    is surrounded by many nations, each with its own             (Ps.  216).  0

     Rev.  Kuiper  is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.


348lStandard  Bearer/April 15,1995


                                                                                                                                       1
                                                                                                  F%BK !wk@ D@dk@ir /

H A House Divided                          consists of three parts. The first part    synod is legitimate." "The wide-
    That is the situation in the Chris-    asks that the synod ban churches           spread abuse of the church order in
tian Reformed Church in North              with women elders from sending             the CRC and the refusal of classes
America (CRC): she's a house di-           delegates to synod. The second part        to respond appropriately makes a
vided. Divided is the CRC on the           calls for the synod to prohibit from       denominational response impera-
issue of women in office. Twice in         serving on denominational boards           tive," the overture continues. "Fail-
recent years the CRC synod decided         and committees those individuals           ure to respond to violations of
to open all offices in the church to       who agree with their congregations'        Church Order Article 3 will render
women, and twice subsequent syn-           decision to allow women to be in           the authority of Synod null and void.
ods refused to ratify those decisions      office. The third part of the over-        Our denominational unity will be
and make the necessary changes in          ture is to ban Classis Grand Rapids        broken and congregationalism will
the CRC Church Order. Last year            East from sending delegates to             replace it. `In those days Israel had
the synod refused to admit women           synod until it rescinds its support        no king, everyone did as he saw fit'
to the offices of minister and elder       for churches with women elders.            (Judges 21:25)."
on the ground that this is contrary        Rev. Eric Verhulst, pastor of Hull,            Classis Lake Erie also is sending
to the plain teaching of Scripture.        North Dakota CRC, said, "These ac-         an overture to synod. This Classis
Meanwhile there are a number of            tions are moderate attempts to deal        is asking the synod to revise the 1994
churches which have installed              with these churches. This particu-         decision against women in office and
women into the office of elder and         lar overture is a response to the de-      to allow women to serve immedi-
are refusing to dismiss women from         cisions of some churches to simply         ately as ministers, elders, and evan-
office as the 1994 synod urged them        say we are going to do what we             gelists.
to do. While this issue has been           want and do our own thing, and                 What will the synod do with
studied, debated, and voted on sev-        that can't be tolerated." The first        these overtures? No one knows.
eral times, a goodly number of             part of the overture passed unani-         One thing the synod will not do, we
people have left the CRC. A few of         mously, while parts two and three          make bold to predict, is expel those
these have joined existing Reformed        were passed by near unanimous              churches which allow women in of-
denominations (among them our              votes.                                     fice from the denomination. What-
own Protestant Reformed Churches)              An overture from  Classis              ever the outcome, one thing is cer-
while the majority have formed in-         Hudson calls for even stronger ac-         tain, the CRC is a' house divided
dependent Reformed churches. As            tion. This classis is asking the synod     against itself and a house divided
a result of this exodus the CRC, as        to "adopt a policy, effective imme-        against itself . . . (Luke 11:17).
reported earlier in these columns,         diately, that all members of such             Reformed Believers Press Service
has lost a significant number of           congregations (those which allow
members.                                   women elders, RDD) not be allowed          n Boesak In Trouble Again
    One would think that most of           to function as synodical delegates,            Dr. Allen Boesak is the former
those opposed to the opening of the        synodical deputies, members of de-         moderator of the former Dutch Re-
offices to women have departed the         nominational boards or committees,         formed Mission Church of South Af-
CRC, so that she could now get on          or classical delegates." The over-         rica and the former president of the
with her agenda and allow women            ture goes much farther than this by        World Alliance of Reformed
to serve in office. But apparently         asking the synod to "declare that all      Churches. He resigned from both
such is not the case. The CRC synod        churches which refuse to submit to         of these positions in 1990 in the wake
of 1995 will be faced with at least        the urging of Synod 1994 (to remove        of a marital scandal. Now Dr.
two overtures calling for action           women from the office of elder,            Boesak is being charged by Scandi-
against those churches which con-          RDD) be declared outside the CRC           navian aid officials with misappro-
tinue to allow women to serve in           and removed from the official regis-       priation of funds. The Scandinavian
the office of elder. The one over-         try of the Christian Reformed              church organization had donated
ture from  Classis Minnesota South         Church in North America effective          about $1.2 million to Boesak's Foun-
                                           immediately." In the grounds for           dation for Peace and Justice. They
                                           the overture Classis Hudson, citing        allege that about 75% of the money
                                           a number of prior precedents in            was misused. They say that private
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical     which synod disciplined local con-         loans were given to Boesak, to the
Theology in the Protestant Reformed        gregations for ecclesiastical disobe-      foundation's bookkeeper, and to
Seminary.                                  dience, states that "strong action by      other staff members.

                                                                                                  April 15,1995/Standard Bearer1349


     While denying any wrongdoing              Way) began phase three of organiz-         little difference, since the GKN has
on his part, Boesak announced he               ing the union. In the first two phases     long since departed from the Re-
would sell his Capetown home to                they developed a basic church or-          formed faith. Had this not been the
replace some of the missing funds.             der and the general lines of struc-        case she never would have partici-
     South Africa's Anglican Arch-             tural organization. In phase three,        pated in the union process.
bishop, Desmond Tutu, said Boesak              committees will plan the details of                        REC News Exchange
should clear his name before taking            how organizations will blend. Both
any official post. Said Tutu, "Boesak          the committees of directors and the        n An Anniversary
has played a tremendous role in our            staff workers in the organization will         This year marks the fortieth an-
struggle, and I . . . would want to see        be involved in the planning.               niversary of the Reformed Theologi-
him cleared."                                      Participants in the union process      cal College (equivalent of our semi-
     Following meetings with Boesak            include the Reformed Churches in           nary) in Geelong, Australia. The
on February 8, the Scandinavians               the Netherlands (GKN) and the              College is the seminary of the Re-
filed a charge with South African              Dutch Reformed Church (state               formed Churches in Australia. This
police. They claim Boesak was un-              church) and a Lutheran denomina-           denomination is composed largely
able to give a satisfactory account of         tion. When the union is finally real-      of immigrants who came from the
where the money had gone. Boesak               ized the churches in which most of         Netherlands to Australia after World
called the meeting "a farce."                  us have our roots, the GKN, will           War II. The College was begun "to
                  REC News Exchange            cease to exist as a separate denomi-       teach, defend and propagate the Re-
                                               nation. This is the denomination of        formed Faith and to train students
B Together On the Way                          Hendrick De Cock,  Albertus                for the holy ministry." One of its
     In January the three Dutch de-            VanRaalte,  Abraham Kuyper, and            first faculty was Dr. Klaas Runia. 0
nominations in the union process               other champions of the Reformed                                 Trowel b Sword
Samen op  Weg (Together on the                 faith. What a shame! But it makes





                 The Covenant Promise

    And I will establish my covenant               As we have noted at various            ings of Dr. Abraham Kuyper: a
between me and thee and thy seed after         times in the past, the difficulties in     supralapsarian approach to election,
thee in their generations for an everlast-     the Netherlands during the thirties        justification from eternity, immedi-
ing covenant, to be a God unto thee,           were perceived to arise primarily          ate regeneration, common grace, and
nnd to thy seed after thee.                    from an atmosphere of dead ortho-          particularly his covenantal view that
                               Genesis 17:7    doxy which had settled over the            infants are to be baptized on the ba-
                                               Gereformeerde  Kerken.  But to this        sis of a presumption that they are
    If there was one thing central to          there was an exception; and it cen-        regenerated even though according
our difficulties with the Liberated            tered in the Dr. Klaas Schilder. His       to the doctrine of election it is not
churches, it was certainly to be found         preaching in the churches and his          necessarily so. This scholastic ap-
in their view of the covenant of               writings  in  the  Reformatie  were re-    proach caused a sense of smugness
grace. To them it was crucially im-            ceiving a great deal of popular at-        and deadness within the churches,
portant; to us it presented endless            tention. Thus it was concluded, by         which focused their attention more
problems.                                      those who followed Dr. Schilder,           on debating abstract theological is-
                                               that the general deadness in the           sues than living the Christian life.
                                               churches was due to the speculative,       Of these Kuyperian doctrines
                                               scholastic approach to theology fol-       Schilder took a different and essen-
Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the Prot-         lowed by so many of their leaders          tially opposing view. Infra-lapsarian
estant Reformed Church  of  Kalamazoo,         and preachers, with their emphasis         in his approach to election, he main-
Michigan.                                      upon a number of the favorite teach-       tained justification in time; regenera-

350lStandard  Bearer/April 15,1995


tion through the preaching of the          grace consists basically of two things,    Christian Reformed Church in its
Word; a considerably milder form           a direct bestowal of the covenant          early years, particularly by the Prof.
of common grace (limited to a favor        promise on every child who is bap-         W. Heyns in the seminary. In his
of God toward his creation in gen-         tized - primarily as set forth in Gen-     teaching he defined a covenant, in
eral*); and a view of the covenant         esis 17~7, "And I will establish my        general, as God's way of dealing
which emphasized the positive na-          covenant between me and thee and           with man by placing him before
ture of its promise, while including       thy seed after thee in their genera-       "promises of life if he should, and
the commands of covenantal respon-         tions for an everlasting covenant, to      threatenings of death if he should
sibility. But it was with this cov-        be a God unto thee, and to thy seed        not do that will of God, thus leav-
enant concept, in the end, that we         after thee" - together with a con-         ing the decision to him."2 And this
had our greatest difficulties.             tinuing demand for faith and obedi-        latter was certainly the crux of the
        Perhaps as great among our         ence. It was this, it is thought, that     matter. It was Prof. Heyns' way of
problems as any was, and continues         came through in the preaching of Dr.       leaving the final decision as. to who
to be, the determining of exactly          Schilder, and made it so relevant and      should be saved, at least rhetorically,
what it is that the Liberated have in      powerful with the people. He spoke         in the hands of man, which came
mind with their views. They claim          the promise of God with definitive         through again when he applied this
them to be simple and direct and           authority, while laying before his         general definition to the covenant of
easy to understand; but the gist of        hearers the responsibilities which         grace:
their thinking we cannot seem to           must accompany it; and, in doing
grasp. The problem may well be, as         so, he escaped the speculative un-              The Covenant of Grace is that spe-
we have pointed out in the past, that      certainty of so many who went                   cial institution for the salvation of
the Liberated people work with a           about discoursing on such obtuse                man in which the Triune God binds
different concept of logic, that is, a     subjects as election and reprobation,           Himself with a covenant and an
different standard for determining         while concluding with the sugges-               oath to the believers and their seed,
what is right and true. This was           tion that people should examine                 to be their Go4 their Father, their
                                                                                           Redeemer, and their Sanctification,
probably the case already in the for-      themselves subjectively as to which             and binds them to Himself to be
ties when Rev. Hoeksema repeatedly         of these applied to them. The result            His own and to serve Him, thus
approached them with requests that         was, in the view of his followers,              insuring their salvation, unless they
they explain how their view of the         that the preaching of Dr. Schilder              break the Covenant by unbelief and
covenant could be harmonized with          spread through the Netherlands like             disobedience.3
the basic and traditional principles       a breath of fresh air, restoring spiri-
of Reformed theology, but never re-        tuality and life where everything had      And then to this definition he added
ceived a clear answer. Nor was it          become dormant and dead.                   next a number of ambivalent quali-
essentially different in the more re-          Now there can be little doubt          fications. He maintained that this
cent debate between Prof. Engelsma         but that in those days Dr. Schilder        covenant is "one-sided" but in such
and Dr. DeJong  of the Clarion maga-       did arouse a great deal of enthusi-        a way that there are two parties
zine. Although the debate went on          asm and interest in spiritual matters,     within it upon which its fulfillment
for some time, our problems with           and that this stood in sharp contrast      is  dependent.4 He called it "Un-
the Liberated view of the covenant         to the often dry preaching found in        breakable," but in such a way that it
never seemed to get answered, while        many of the churches. Whether this         can be broken by  sin5 And it is
we were repeatedly accused of mis-         was due, however, to Dr. Schilder's        "Unconditional," but in such a way
representing them and of imposing          doctrinal positions, or to his rhetori-    that man as a party in it must fulfill
a logical scheme of thought upon the       cal abilities, and to his bold anti-es-    the conditions of faith and obedience
matter  - as though being logical is       tablishment pronouncements  -              in order to remain within its bounds
somehow an undesirable thing.              even against the invading Germans          and receive its benefits.`j
Their commitment would appear to           when they came - is perhaps an
be, as we have tried to explain, to        open question which can never be
the not uncommon use of a rhetori-         answered and must be left to the
cal logic, which is satisfied as long      judgment of God. What is certainly         1      This view was later dropped, per-
as something can be made to sound          true is that the Liberated view of         haps in deference to us.
reasonable, without requiring a true       the covenant would seem not to be                 Prof. W. Heyns, Manual of Re-
harmony and consistency through-           anything new, but essentially to cor-      iormed  Doctrine, Wm. B. Eerdmans
out.                                       respond to an old traditional posi-        Publishing House, Grand Rapids, 1926,
        It is no doubt in this sense as    tion which had often been main-            p. 67.
                                                                                      3      Ibid. p. 
well that the Liberated covenant                                                                          125.
                                           tained before.                             4      Ibid. p. 127-130.
view is considered to be quite                 This traditional view had, for ex-     5     Ibid. p. 130.
simple. To them the covenant of            ample, been commonly taught in the         6      Ibid. p. 130.

                                                                                                  April 15,1995/Standard Bearer/351


     In rather typically Arminian          that of Prof. Heyns which he had               Anna,  I, the LORD Himself, baptize you
style he both affirmed a principle of      rejected so emphatically in his semi-          in my Holy Name. You are now of
Reformed theology; and then so             nary days. He wanted to believe                m-e.I"
qualified it as to make its opposite       that the Liberated theologians had                That baptism, which has been
true as well. And so too he went on        some way of avoiding the clear                 performed by the LORD,  always re-
to add three more significant points:      Arminian implications of that view,            mains  of  power, eve y day, every hour,
                                                                                          until our death, yea to all eternity.  It
This covenant includes a covenantal        but ask as he would they never came            is essentially so that the Lord con-
grace for all its participants.' The       to explain how it was so.                      tinuously baptizes us. He sprinkled
purpose of the covenant is to "en-             And so he waited as patiently              us with water when we were but a
courage and strengthen faith in the        as he could, until the immigrants be-          few days old, He always keeps, so
promise.N The covenant must not            gan to come over to this country.              to speak, that water fresh and liv-
be seen as established only with the       Those who came from the Liberated              ing and powerful upon our fore-
elect, but with all the children of be-    churches were being advised to join            heads. And the Word which He
lievers!                                   our churches, and it became neces-             first spoke, He continues to speak
     It was this doctrine of the cov-      sary to explain to them that they              through our whole life! Every sec-
                                                                                          ond Jehovah repeats: Carl, William,
enant that was taught by Prof. Heyns       should expect to hear from our pul-            Mary, I baptize you in the Name
during the years Herman Hoeksema           pits a covenant view quite different           of the Father and of the Son and of
was in seminary; and it was to it,         from any they had been taught in               the Holy Spirit. Or, better said, Je-
perhaps more than anything else in         the Netherlands. And then Rev.                 hovah does not repeat that Word,
his seminary education, that Hoek-         Hoeksema was silenced by his se-               He continues to say it. It continu-
sema objected. In his view it was          vere stroke, just at the time when             ously comes to us, earnestly and
nothing less than Arminianism ap-          Dr. Schilder was coming here for his           graciously out of His heart, in un-
plied within the covenant of grace,        post-war visit. The result was, of             broken power....
inasmuch as it extended to every           course, that they were unable to en-              It  &odd  ring in our hearts: The
                                                                                          LORD baptizes us and continues 
baptized child the grace and ex-                                                                                             fo bap-
                                           gage in the kind of theological dis-           tize us from day to day and hour to
pressed desire of God that he should       cussions for which they had so long            hour. He said once and continues
be saved.                                  hoped. Little was accomplished in              to say now from day to day and
    Thus it was, when after the war        this regard, on a theological level,           hour to hour: "I am the LORD  your
a relationship began to develop be-        until there came the greatest shock            God and you are completely
                                                                                             .  n
tween our churches and the Liber-          of all. It was in the form of a bro-           mine . . . .
ated, that Rev. Hoeksema met this          chure by Dr. C. Veenhof under the                 To rightly understand what this
with a degree of careful reserve. On       name Appd!  (in English, "Appeal!").           means we must surely know and
the one hand, he had great sympa-          Here was a man who had corre-                  always hold fast that the LORD in
                                                                                          His wondrous love has thought it
thy for the Liberated people and           sponded with Rev. Hoeksema often,              good to give all the children of be-
their new churches, due to the way         and who would have been expected               lievers His promise. Or, in other
in which they had been high-               to know our covenant view and at               words: it has pleased Him to ex-
handedly ejected from the Gerefor-         least treat it with respect. Instead,          press to those children a glorious
meerde Kerlcen, much as we had been        however, this pamphlet was as full             pledge. That is, He says to all those
from the CRC in 1924, except that          of crass Heynsian statements as one            children, head for head, day in and
this was even more crassly done, in        could possibly imagine. Presented              day out, meaningfully and sin-
that it was brought about under the        as an explanation of their break with          cerely: "I am the LORD your God. I
cover of a devastating war. He             the Synod of the Dutch churches, it            establish my covenant with you. I
                                                                                          wash you from all sin in the blood
could empathize with them com-             put forth a view of the covenant ex-           of our Lord Jesus Christ; My Holy
pletely. And, in turn, he had a            pressed in statements so bluntly               Spirit lives in you. In short: I de-
strong attraction to Dr. Schilder per-     Arminian that one can hardly escape            clare to you the complete forgive-
sonally, and as a theologian. They         its implications, as can be seen from          ness of sins and eternal salvation:
had worked together so well and            but a few quotations:                          all the treasures and riches of which
constructively during the doctor's                                                        I can and will give to mankind....
brief visit here, and there was al-            Above all we must know and
ways that hope that someday they             maintain this; through faith we         And there was much more. These
would be able to take up once more           must also see that God, our God,        were not just passing remarks. They
where they had left off. But Rev.            the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ     were put forth as the heart of the
Hoeksema was a realist; and it was           Himself baptizes the little children
evident in his reading about the             of the Church! When a child is
                                            baptized the LORD Himself comes
theological conflict in the Nether-          to that child, He Himself sprinkles
lands, that the Liberated view of the        the water on its head and says very     7      Ibid.  p. 136,137.
covenant held a jarring similarity to       really and personally: John, May,        8      Ibid.  p. 150-152.

352lStandard Bearer/April 15,1995


Liberated covenant view; and to us          of the need to maintain the veracity        can a divine veracity be maintained?
they were little short of astounding.       of God; but, if this was to be given        And regardless of whether the Lib-
The Liberated spoke of the dangers          as an unwavering promise to every           erated like it or not, do not the Scrip-
of baptizing on the basis of a pre-         baptized child, when we know from           tural teachings of election and rep-
sumption; and yet what could do             Scripture, as well as from experience,      robation clearly state that such
more to arouse false presumptions           that many go astray and live out            affirmations simply are not so? It
than this blanket assurance of grace        their lives in unbelief and sin, how        all stood in direct conflict with ev-
to everyone? The Liberated spoke                                                        erything we saw to be Reformed. 0


                                                                                               iP?mi?  Hmiiiian  !i%vik~  /



                 Alexander Henderson:
                                            Covenanter

Introduction                                Rome's with archbishops, bishops,           Henderson's early life and calling
    Presbyterianism was established         and lower clergy. The Scottish Pres-             Into this situation Alexander
in Scotland only after bitter struggle.     byterians were just as convinced that       Henderson was born in Fifeshire
If Andrew Melville, whose life we           such hierarchical forms of church           around the year 1583. Nothing is
discussed last time, was the father         government were contrary to all             known of his early life. He lived in
of Presbyterianism, Alexander               Scripture, and they  were  determined       obscurity until he began his studies
Henderson, more than any other,             to resist, to the death if need be, any     in St. Andrews. He earned his A.M.
was responsible for fixing it firmly        efforts by the Stuarts to impose            degree in 1603, and because he soon
in the kirk of Scotland - although          prelacy on their land and in their          acquired a reputation as a brilliant
even after his life the struggle con-       church.                                     mind, he was given the chair of pro-
tinued for some few years.                          .With Melville out of the way,      fessor of philosophy in St. Andrews.
    The Stuart kings were on the            the Stuarts, though still opposed by             Here he might very well have,
throne of Scotland, all of them strong      a few,2  were successful in all but si-     lived a comfortable and settled life,
proponents of the divine right of           lencing Presbyterian ministers. They        enjoying the honor and income of a
kings and eager to be the absolute          used the threats and punishments            prestigious post and bothering very
monarchs which their predecessors           of imprisonment and banishment;             little about the life and death
had been. Specifically, after Melville      they bribed wavering ministers with         struggle going on in the church. He
died, James  VI' pressed the claims         promises of bishoprics; they sent re-       was a man who, without much
of an absolute monarch; and his             calcitrant men to remote parts of           thought, supported prelacy, and he
policy was followed by Charles I.           Scotland where their influence was          really never considered that anyone
    The Stuarts were convinced, and         nil.                                        could be so concerned about minute
correctly so, that Presbyterianism                  The difficulty was that along
was a threat to their claims of abso-       with prelacy came other evils: the
lute rule. They favored what was            right of kings to rule in affairs of the
known as prelacy, the form of               church, episcopal liturgical practices      1    Later James I of England when he
church government practiced in the          in the worship services, and                succeeded in uniting England and Scot-
Anglican Church in England, a sys-          oftentimes the dreadful heresy of           land under his rule.
                                                                                        2
tem of church government much like          Arminianism. All these galled the                Such men as David Dickson and
                                            soul of the Presbyterians, whose only       Robert Bruce attempted to resist the en-
                                            desire was to worship God accord-           croachments of prelacy. Robert Bruce
                                                                                        was the first to establish a Presbyterian
Prof. Hanlco is professor of Church His-    ing to the commands of the Scrip-           Church in Northern Ireland. The ruins
toy and New Testament in the Protes-        tures.                                      of his church, with appropriate signs,
tant Reformed Semina y.                                                                 can still be seen in Ballymoney.

                                                                                                 April 15,1995/Standard Bearer1353


problems as to make a fuss over the           At the General Assembly of 1618       and was one of its signatories.
question.                                 the forces of prelacy in Scotland                 Through the efforts of staunch
     But God had other plans for him.     gained a victory of sorts when the        Presbyterians the faithful acquired a
These plans began to become clear         Assembly decided, under pressure          majority at the General Assembly of
when in 1615 Henderson was made           from the king and his ministers, to       1638, at which Assembly Henderson
a minister of the gospel in the par-      impose upon the churches various          was chosen as Moderator. Although
ish of Leuchars. Even this would          episcopal practices which included        the Assembly was protested, re-
not have amounted to all that much        kneeling at the sacrament of the          sisted, and opposed by the bishops,
if it were not for the fact that the      Lord's Supper, private baptism in         and although it was officially dis-
people in this parish were strong         the homes or at the church outside        solved by the king, it continued to
Presbyterians and they had no in-         worship services, private adminis-        meet until it had successfully excom-
tention of allowing an episcopal prel-    tration of the Lord's Supper, episco-     municated opposing bishops and
ate on their pulpit. On the day of        pal confirmation of clerics, and the      adopted decisions favorable to strict
Henderson's ordination they locked        celebration of various Christian holi-    Presbyterianism.
the doors and forced Henderson and        days.                                             It was at this meeting that, in an
his party to break into the church            When the pastor of Leuchars op-       eloquent speech, Mr. Henderson de-
through a window.                         posed these episcopal innovations,        fined what in the judgment of Pres-
     There was fine divine irony in       he was summarily summoned to de-          byterians, was the responsibility of
the events which followed. Robert         fend himself before the imposing          the king towards the church. We
Bruce, staunchly Presbyterian, at-        High Commission of the king in St.        quote a few snatches from this
tracted such large crowds to his min-     Andrews. His defense of his posi-         speech to give some indication of the
istry that Henderson was of a mind        tion was so effective that the High       position which these men took on
to go secretly to hear him to learn if    Commission refused to do anything         the sticky question of the relation
possible the secret of Bruce's popu-      further to him in spite of his defi-      between church and state.
larity. After Bruce entered the pul-      ance of Assembly decrees.
pit, he read his text at the appropri-        Something on the same order                   . . . to a Christian king belongeth,
ate time, which text was: "Verily,        took place nearly 20 years later when          1. Inspection over the affairs of the
verily, I say unto you, He that           efforts were made to force                     church.... 2. The vindication of re-
entereth not by the door into the         Henderson personally to make use               ligion . . . he being the keeper of the
sheepfold, but climbeth up some           of episcopal liturgy rather than the           first  table of the law. 3. . . . to con-
                                                                                         firm . . . the constitutions of the kirk
other way, the same is a thief and a      simple liturgy used by Presbyteri-             . . . and give them the strength of
robber" (John  1O:l). Alexander           ans throughout the land who man-               law. 4. He both may and ought to
Henderson could not help but recall       aged successfully to resist the king's         compel kirk men in the perfor-
how he had himself entered the            best efforts.                                  mance of the duties which God re-
church where he was pastor when               On March 1,1638  an event took             quires of them. 5. The coercive
first he came to Leuchars. He was         place of momentous importance.                 power also belongs to the prince....
so smitten in his conscience that he      This was the signing of the National           6. The Christian magistrate bath
retreated from the service in shame,      League and Covenant in the  Grey-              power to convoke assemblies . . . and
went to his own study to ponder           friars churchyard in Edinburgh.3  It           in assemblies . . . his power is great . . . .
what Bruce had said, and became           was a rather short document, signed
convinced before God that  Pres-          and sworn to by large multitudes of               But the church also firmly be-
byterianism was the only form of          people from all parts of Scotland and     lieved that it had certain rights and
church government and worship             from all ranks and classes of the         responsibilities towards the king,
sanctioned by the Holy Scriptures.        Scottish people. It was a solemn          which were put  into~ practice by
    With that remarkable conver-          moment in Scotland's history, for the     Henderson and the Presbyterians.
sion, Scotland gained one of her most     document bound the signers by oath               When Charles I flatly refused to
ardent and passionate defenders of        to be true to the Reformed faith, to      give Presbyterians any leeway in
the cause of God.                         be loyal to the king and the liberties    their practices, war broke out in En-
                                          and laws of the kingdom, and to re-       gland against the king. The forces
Henderson's battle for                    sist Popery and every effort to im-       opposed to the king were directed
Presbyterianism                           pose prelacy upon them.
    Although from that time on                It was this National League and
Henderson's life was devoted to the       Covenant which gave to those sign-        3       Actually this was the second Na-
cause of Scottish Presbyterianism,        ing it and to subsequent Presbyteri-      tional Covenant, sometimes called the
we can mention only a few outstand-       ans the name of "Covenanters."            Renewal of the Covenant. It included
ing events in a life of dedicated ser-        Alexander Henderson was               in it the First National Covenant or
vice.                                     chiefly responsible for the document      King's  Covenant.

354lStandard  Bearer /April 15,1995


by Parliament in which the anti-Prel-     terians were ready to give him, but      gently for Parliament's goals.
ate or Puritan party had gained           the Presbyterians could never make           In 1645, before Charles' final de-
power. The men of Scotland were           right their claim that Christ gave       feat, Henderson spent time, at the
prepared to join with their brethren      them the prerogative to overthrow        king's personal request, in negotia-
in England in the civil war which         a tyrannical king (no matter how         tions with the king in an effort to
was sure to come. Henderson in            grievous his offenses) with the          stop the civil war and bring peace
fact became a chaplain in these           power of the sword. It was a             to the commonwealth. Efforts
forces which scored several victories     muddled age in this respect; we          proved fruitless, for the king would
over the Royalist troops.                 must be careful that our admiration      not surrender episcopacy. But dur-
    It is not our purpose to review       for these men does not blind our         ing the negotiations, although only
all the events of that war; there will    eyes to wrong conduct.                   after it became clear that they were
perhaps be another time to do that.                                                fruitless, Henderson asked to be ex-
Any schoolboy knows how Oliver            Henderson's last years                   cused to return to his home in
Cromwell and his Roundheads even-             Two more events can briefly be       Edinburgh. His constitution was
tually defeated the king, who fled        mentioned. As Parliament in Lon-         broken by overwork and he was too
for safety to Scotland. And all know      don guided the war against Charles,      weak to continue in these arduous
how he was turned over to the En-         so did Parliament take it upon itself    struggles with England's king.
glish, who promptly relieved him of       to restore Presbyterianism to En-            He returned home, but died
his head and established the Com-         gland and Scotland. The method           eight days after his return, on Au-
monwealth with Cromwell as leader.        used was to summon an assembly           gust 19,1646  in Edinburgh. He was
    But what is important for us to       of divines to bring this about. The      buried in Greyfriars churchyard,
remember is that, while the courage       assembly of divines which came to        where to this day a monument
of the defenders of biblical church       London at Parliament's bidding has       stands commemorating his faithful
government and worship against the        become known as the Westminster          labors.
tyranny of Stuart kings can only stir     Assembly, that famous and illustri-          These men were tested to the
our admiration, these men were            ous assembly which will, God will-       limit in faithfulness to their calling
wrong - terribly wrong in their           ing, be the subject of another story.    to obey God rather than men. It
views of church and state. Not only       To that assembly Henderson was           was a faithfulness which puts them
did not Christ give the king the pow-     sent as delegate from Scotland, and      in the roll of the heroes of faith cel-
ers in the church which the Presby-       on that assembly he labored dili-        ebrated by Scripture.  ~1





                                                   C h a p t e r   4
                 The Last Four Days of
                  Creation-Week (cont.)

                                                                                   size is that Adam's experience, as
                                          God's Creation of Mati (3):              he came from the hand of his Cre-
                                          Created in God's Image                   ator, was unique. There is nothing
                                              Adam, if we may phrase it in         that lies within the scope of our
                                          this way, must have had the sur-         earthly experience to which it may
                                          prise of his life on the sixth day of    be compared. Perhaps we may think
                                          creation-week when he first opened       of that first moment of Adam's life
                                                                                   in terms of another moment of
The late Homer Hoeksema  was profes-      his eyes upon the wonders of God's
                                                                                   which the Scriptures speak, when,
sor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in     handiwork.
                                                                                   in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
the Protestant Reformed Seminary.             What we are trying to empha-

                                                                                              April 15,1995/Standard B&&355


trump, the dead shall be raised and               made in God's image, no matter how           "likeness" is a further definition of
the then living believers shall be                many stages of development from              the term "image." God created man
changed from mortality to immor-                  animal to Adam you allow it and              in His image in such a way that the
tality, from corruption into                      no matter how many millions of               image was also a likeness, so that
incorruption, in order consciously to             years you permit it to extend the            man resembles God in a creaturely
inherit the kingdom of God in its                 process of development. From a bio-          way. Just what is implied in this
full perfection. But also that last               logical point of view, indeed, but           we shall discuss later.
moment lies beyond our present ex-                even more emphatically from the                  Let us now note also that the
perience. It shall undoubtedly be                 point of view of the image of God            truth concerning man being made
even more full of wonderment than                 in man, there is a chasm which evo-          in God's image is not based merely
the first moment for Adam.                        lution cannot bridge. This chasm             on this one text from Genesis 1. In
     Imagine, in as far as that is pos-           can only be explained from creation.         the first place, this is one of those
sible, that Adam came suddenly into               According to that creation-faith,            underlying truths which is presup-
being, formed by God's almighty                   man's earliest state was not that of         posed in all that the Bible teaches us
power. Imagine that in a flash the                a naked and uncivilized savage,              concerning man. Always in the
Lord turned on the light of                                from which he struggled up-         Scriptures man is presented as a
Adam's consciousness, so                                     ward step by step to the          creature capable of being addressed
that he might behold all                    From               present level of civiliza-      by God, as a creature who can hear
the wonders of creation.                 a biological           tion. Nor must we con-         and understand God's Word, as a
Imagine, too, that when                 point  of view,          ceive of man's first con-     creature adapted to have fellowship
he first opened his eyes                   indeed,                dition as being like that    with God, to live in God's house, to
upon his surroundings,                     but even               of an infant, whose          know and to do the will of God, to
he did so with such a                 more emphatically           mind is still a blank,       be God's friend-servant, and to love
clear perception and                   from the point             whose moral con-             the Lord his God with all his heart
penetrating under-                         of view                sciousness is undevel-       and mind and soul and strength.
standing that he was                     of the image             oped, and whose con-         God deals with man as such a crea-
able in and through all                of God in man,             scious contact with his      ture in Paradise. All this implies
the wonders of cre-                        there is               surroundings is a ma-        that close affinity between God and
ation to see the light of                  a chasm                ter of growth and de-        man which presupposes the image
God's countenance.                     which evolution           velopment. But Adam           of God as its basis in man. For fel-
Imagine, moreover, that                 cannot bridge.          as he came from the hand       lowship can exist only on the basis
the first man was sur-                                         of his Creator was the per-     of likeness. Even in his fallen state,
rounded by Gods handi-                                       fect man, endowed with the        in which man no longer possesses
work in its pristine beauty, as it                       perfections of the image of God,      the image of God, he remains a crea-
was unspoiled by sin and the curse.              standing instantaneously in the               ture who in his creaturely nature is
Imagine that all creation spoke to               bright light of the full consciousness        adapted to be the bearer of that im-
him, whether with silent or with au-             of his relation to the world about            age, and reveals such vestiges of that
dible voice, of the knowledge and                him and to God above him.                     original image which he once pos-
wisdom and glory of the Creator.                         Directly, this truth concerning       sessed that plainly testify that he
Then you can also imagine, in as far             man's creation is taught us in Gen-           ought to know God rightly, love
as that is possible, that the very first         esis 1:26,27:  "And God said, Let us          Him, and serve Him with all his
act of our first father must have been           make man in our image, after our              heart and mind and soul and
an act of worship and that, prostrat-            likeness: and let them have domin-            strength.
ing himself in the dust whence he                ion over the fish of the sea, and over            Moreover, the Scriptures plainly
was taken, he must have cried out,               the fowl of the air, and over the             present man's redemption and sal-
"My God, how great and good Thou                 cattle, and over all the earth, and           vation as consisting in the restora-
art!"                                            over every creeping thing that                tion of the image of God, and the
    What we have just now stated                 creepeth upon the earth. So God               elevation of that image to its highest
stands in unbreakable connection                 created man in his own image, in              possible level. This is the implica-
with the truth that God made man                 the image of God created he him;              tion of Romans 8:29: "For whom he
in His image and after His likeness.             male and female created he them."             did foreknow, he also did predesti-
It is precisely at this point, once              By the terms "image" and "likeness"           nate to be conformed to the image
again, that the truth of creation and            Scripture here refers fundamentally           of his Son, that he might be the first-
the lie of evolution come to the part-           to the same truth. These two terms            born among many brethren." The
ing, of the ways. Evolution, whether             do not refer to two different parts           words of Ephesians  4:24 plainly
it be atheistic or allegedly theistic,           of man, such as his visible form and          speak of this restoration of the im-
cannot arrive at man, the creature               his spiritual nature, but the term            age of God in believers: "And that

356lStandard  Bearer/April 15,1995


ye put on the new man, which after          nite. God is eternal; man is a crea-          there lies the danger. For from this
God is created in righteousness and         ture of time. God is the unchange-            presentation it is but a small jump
true holiness." In Colossians 3:9,10        able and sovereign I AM; man is               to the idea that man, having not lost
the image of God is literally men-          changeable and dependent in all his           the image of God altogether, has
tioned as follows: "Lie not one to          existence. It is exactly a key ele-           kept part of his original righteous-
another, seeing that ye have put off        ment in the marvel of God's cov-              ness. In other words, he is not to-
the old man with his deeds; and             enant that the infinite and eternal           tally depraved.
have put on the new man, which is           and sovereign I AM would take up                  It is more accurate, therefore, to
renewed in knowledge after the im-          a little creature of His hand into the        distinguish between the image of
age of him that created him." In I          life of His friendship.                       God and the creature adapted to
John 3:2, we read of the same re-                   In the second place, we must not      bear that image, between the image
stored and glorified likeness: "Be-         try to answer the question concem-            and the image-bearer. That man is a
loved, now are we the sons of God,          ing the content of the image of God           rational and moral being constitutes
and it does not yet appear what we          by way of philosophical reasoning.            him as the bearer of God's image. It
shall be; but we know that, when                     Along this line, it has been         requires a being with intelligence and
it shall appear, we shall be                            taught that the image of          will to reflect the virtues of the
like him, for we shall see                                God in man consists in          knowledge of God, of righteousness,
him as he is." In a simi-           When we are           certain natural character-      and holiness. Man's rational, moral
lar vein the apostle Peter          born  of God,          istics of man, such as his     nature belongs, therefore, to his be-
speaks of our being                 this implies           intelligence, his rational-    ing the image-bearer. This, man
made "partakers of the          that we are made           ity and morality, his          never loses. Whether in the state of
divine nature" (II Pet.             to look like           power of rational speech,      righteousness in Paradise, or in the
1:4). Moreover, as often            our heavenly          along with his alleged im-      fallen state, or in the redeemed state
as the Scriptures speak not           Father.           Imortality. This reasoning        in Christ Jesus, man always remains
only of our adoption as chil-                        runs somewhat as  follows.           a rational, moral being, a creature
dren of God but also of our being           God is a Spirit; man's soul is also           with intelligence and will, a creature
born of God, it suggests this same          spiritual. God has intelligence; man          who, as far as his nature as such is
idea of the image of God: when we           also has a rational mind. God has a           concerned, is image-bearer, that is,
are born of God, this implies that          moral will; man also has a moral              adapted to bear the image of God,
we are made to look like our heav-          will. God is immortal; man also,              and a creature who ought to reflect
enly Father. Hence, there can be no         they say, has immortality. These              the virtues of God. Of this, man
doubt but that the Scriptures               natural attributes of man constitute          cannot possibly rid himself. For this
throughout teach this truth of man's        the image of God in him. Others               reason also he can never shed his
creation after the image of God.            claim that these natural gifts of in-         responsibility, or accountability. He
    It is in the light of these same        telligence and reason and a moral             can and does lose the image of God,
passages of Holy Writ that we must          nature constitute what they call "the         even to such an extent that the natu-
answer this question: what is the           image of God in the broader sense,"           ral man reflects not the image of God
meaning of the image of God? What           while man's righteousness and holi-           but the image of his father, the devil.
is the content of it? In what sense         ness and knowledge of God are what            For as the Lord says to the unbe-
may it be said that man was created         they call "the image of God in the            lieving Jews in John 844, "Ye are of
to resemble God?                            narrower sense.N                              your father the devil, and the lusts
    In the first place, we must re-              The trouble with this line of rea-       of your father ye will do." But while
member that this cannot mean that           soning is, in the first place, that it        the image of God is wholly cor-
man was essentially like God. There         finds no support in the Scriptures.           rupted in him, perverted into its
is only one of whom it can be said          The Scriptures plainly teach that the         very opposite, so that he loves the
that He is the image of the invisible       image of God in which man was                 lie, unrighteousness, and corruption,
God, and that is the Son of God             originally created, and which is now          and is become the enemy of God, he
Himself. He indeed partakes of the          lost, and which is restored in the be-        always remains a responsible and re-
divine essence. But to suggest that         lievers, consists in spiritual perfec-        sponding creature, with intelligence
man was originally, or may become,          tion and integrity: true knowledge            and will.
like God essentially is to repeat the       of God, righteousness, and holiness.              But the image of God itself con-
lie of the devil in Paradise. There         Secondly, there is a danger lurking           sists in the true knowledge of God,
remains forever an infinite chasm           here. Usually, in connection with             righteousness, and holiness. It is
between the Being of God and that           this explanation, it is stated that man       man's original integrity. Man could
of man. God is God; man is never            lost the image of God in the nar-             rightly know God with the spiritual
God. God is the Creator; man is a           rower sense, but he kept the image            knowledge of love. That knowledge
creature. God is infinite; man is fi-       of God in the broader sense. Right            consisted of his constant and clear

                                                                                                  April 15,1995/Standard Bear4357


apprehension of the revelation of           thinking and willing and longing, to      not in mere bread, in mere things,
God in the things that are made, in         be consecrated to the living God          but in the favor of God; death is in
the hearing of the Word of God, and         with all that he is and possesses in      the wrath of God.
of his tasting of the lovingkindness        perfect devotion  - these spiritual           Finally, we must remember that
of God which is better than life. His       perfections constitute the image of       Adam possessed the image of God
righteousness was not an imputed            God in man. Thus, Adam was                in such a way that he could and did
righteousness, as is the righteousness      made. From his very first breath he       lose that image and in such a way
by faith in Christ; nor was it an ac-       stood in conscious relation to God        that he could pervert that image of
quired righteousness, established by        and to all things, and he tasted the      God into its very opposite. Herein,
works of the law; but it was that           goodness of God's house and was           from the point of view of his consti-
concreated integrity of his will and        filled with the pleasures there are in    tution, lies the possibility of the fall.
his whole nature according to which         God's right hand.                         Moreover, we must remember that
from the instant of his creation it             This, moreover, was life for          this was not accidental. Man was
was his meat to do the will of God.         man. Life in the true sense of the        created in this way with a view to
Man's holiness was not the result of        word, for man who is made after           the revelation of the wonder of grace
a constant battle of sanctification, but    the image of God, is not simply to        in Christ. For, presently, Adam must
it was that increated virtue of his         eat and to drink and to be merry,         fall in order to give way to Christ
whole nature according to which he          like the beasts that perish. But it is    and in order to make room for the
longed and thirsted for the living          to live in intimate fellowship with       entire history of sin and grace. For
God and consecrated himself to his          the Fountain of all good, to walk         it was God's purpose to raise that
maker. To know the living God in            with Him and to talk with Him, to         image of God in man to the higher
love, to thirst for Him as the hart         taste His blessed favor, to delight in    and heavenly level according to
panteth after water-brooks, to taste        the doing of His will, to serve and       which as sons of God we shall be
that He is good, to know His will           to love Him with all our heart and        conformed perfectly to the image of
and to be in full agreement with it         mind and soul and strength. Death         His Son, that He may be the First-
in his inmost heart and in all his          is the very opposite of this. Life is     born among many brethren. 0


/ N@lWS mm? aw a7amGin@S                                                                    A&, mq&i@7j M!&g@r /I
                                                The Church Extension Commit-          formed Churches of Singapore, ex-
                                            tee of the Loveland, CO PRC made          plaining how to organize an evan-
                                            a recent request to their fellow          gelism committee.
Evangelism  Activities                      church members to supply names                In other related matters the
    The Evangelism Society of the           and addresses of those who might          Evangelism Committee of Covenant
Randolph, WI PRC sponsored a re-            be interested in seeing the Standard      is presently working on various
cent lecture at the Central Wiscon-         Bearer, as well as names of places        projects such as a spring lecture and
sin Christian High School in                where the SB might profita.bly  be        the publication of a pamphlet to be
Waupan, WI. This lecture, entitled          distributed.                              used as a mailer.
"Enduring the Great Tribulation,"               The two Bible classes of the Cov-         They have also received ap-
was given by Rev. Ron VanOver-              enant PRC in Wyckoff, NJ have de-         proval of a proposed plan for the
loop, pastor of the Georgetown PRC          parted from their usual format these      building of a pamphlet rack on the
in Bauer, MI, and was a follow-up           past couple of months so that they        wall in the narthex of their church
of a lecture he gave there last April       could meet together to see three          for the better display and distribu-
15, entitled, "The Lord's Return, Is        video tapes of a Conference on Re-        tion of our churches' pamphlets.
It Near?"                                   formed Evangelism which was
                                            hosted by and held at the Byron Cen-
                                            ter, MI PRC in 1989. The first tape       Congregational Activities
                                            consisted of a speech given by Prof.          While in Loveland, CO for the
                                            D. Engelsma, of our seminary, deal-       recent meeting of Classis West, Rev.
                                            ing with the necessity of evangelism      R. Moore, pastor of Hull, IA PRC,
                                            by the local congregation, followed       was able to present slides of the re-
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protes-       by a short speech by Rev. J.              cent trip to Ghana. This program
tant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,        Kortering, presently serving as min-      was sponsored by the Men's Society
Michigan.                                   ister-on-loan to the Evangelical Re-      of Loveland, in the hope that

356lStandard Bearer /April 15,1995


through this means the congregation           Spriensma's recent trip to Northern          along with restrooms, to their school
in Loveland would be made more                Ireland to spend time with mission-          building.
aware of the work going on in Ghana           ary Rev. R. Hanko and the Covenant
by our churches through the Foreign           Reformed Fellowship. "As much as             Minister Activities
Mission Committee.                            Rev. Hanko's schedule permitted,                 We send our congratulations to
    The combined choirs of the                we tried to spend time with him dis-         Rev. Jai and Esther Mahtani on the
Doon and Hull, IA PRCs presented              cussing the work and carrying out            occasion of the birth of their sixth
their Spring Concert on March 5 in            the mandate of the Consistory and            son, Titus, born February 25.
the Doon  Church.                             Mission Committee. We were asked                 Rev. R. Dykstra, pastor of the
    In early March, a classical ap-           to observe the work, ask about goals,        Doon, IA PRC, declined the calls he
pointment to the then vacant con-             look into the welfare of the mission-        had been considering from the Byron
gregation of the First PRC in                 ary and his family, etc . . . . fl And he    Center, MI and Edgerton, MN PRCs.
Edmonton, AB, Canada brought                  adds, "Probably the main purpose                 Directly related to the above, the
Rev. A. denHartog  to Edmonton for            of our visit was to analyze the de-          Edgerton Church will next call a pas-
two Sundays. While there he pre-              sires of the CRF to organize into a          tor from a trio consisting of the Revs.
sented a program of slides on                 church." "The CRF hopes to begin             A. denl?Iartog  (Hope PRC, Redlands,
Singapore and our sister-churches             the process of making a request; and         CA), K. Koole (Faith PRC, Jenison,
there, taken when Rev. and Mrs.               the Lord willing, if things continue         MI), and C. Terpstra (South Holland,
denHartog  were able to visit                 to progress, make a request at the           IL PRC).
Singapore once again in January.              Synod of 1996."

                                                                                                        ~ood-fMz?io~ht
Mission Activities                            School Activities                                "One breath of paradise will ex-
    In a recent letter addressed to               At a school society meeting held         tinguish all the adverse winds of
his congregation Rev. B. Gritters,            March.6, the membership of the Hull          earth."
pastor of the Hudsonville, MI PRC,            PR Christian School Society ap-                                     -A.W. Pink.  Q
writes a b o u t   h i s   a n d   R e v .    proved plans to add two classrooms,





                                                      TEACHERNEEDED
                                                  The Free Christian School of               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                      Edgerton, MN is in need of a teacher             The Bible Study Group of Bethel
    The consistory and congregation           for grades K-4. Please contact Allen         Protestant Reformed Church in Elk
of Southwest Protestant Reformed              Hendriks at (507) 4425221 or Den-            Grove Village, IL expresses their
Church expresses its heartfelt sym-           nis Bleyenburg at (507) 442-7551             deepest sympathy to their pastor,
pathy to Mr. and Mrs. David Reitsma           or write to the school,                      Rev. Carl Haak, and his family in
in the sudden death of his younger                    Free Christian School                the loss of their father and grandfa-
brother,                                                  P.O. Box 431                     ther,
             JONATHAN.                                Edger-ton, MN 56128.                            MR. BARNEY HAAK.
May the bereaved family be com-                                                                Our prayer is that they may be
forted by the promises of God's                                                            comforted with the word of God in
Word and may their confession be                                                           Lamentations 3:22, 23: "It is of the
that of Job, "The Lord gave, and                            NOTICE!!!                      Lord's mercies that we are not con-
the Lord hath taken away; blessed                 Classis East will meet in regu-          sumed, because his compassions
be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21).          lar session on Wednesday, May 10,            fail not. They are new every morn-
    Rev. Ron Cammenga, President              1995 at the First Protestant Re-             ing: great is thy faithfulness."
                   Clare Kuiper, Clerk        formed Church, Grand Rapids, Ml.                              Bethel PR Bible Study
                                                                     Jon J. Huisken,
                                                                         Stated Clerk

                                                                                                      April 15,1995/Standard  Bearer1359


                                                                                                                         SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                                         Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                         Grandville, Michigan
   P. 0. Box 603
   Grandville, Ml 49468-0603


     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                              WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
     On April 21, 1995 our parents,                                NOTICE!!!                          On April 13, 1995, the Lord will-
      ROBERT and DOROTHY                               The Hull Protestant Reformed               ing, our parents,
                NOORMAN,                           School has the following teaching                   MR. and MRS. GILBERT
will celebrate, the Lord willing, their            positions available for the `95-`96                        SCHIMMEL,
40th wedding anniversary.                          school year: Kindergarten (3 days              celebrated their 45th wedding anni-
     We are grateful to our heavenly               a week), l/2 time teacher for grade            versary.
Father for giving us parents who fear              2, Band and Choir. Please contact                  We with them, are grateful to
Him. We give thanks for the good                   Peter Brummel at home: (712) 439-              our heavenly Father for bringing
example, the covenant instruction,                 1308 or school: (712) 439-2490, or             them together and blessing them
the love, and the guidance He has                  Alvin Kooiker: (712) 7252491, or               through these years of Christian love
given us through them. We pray                     write the school:                              and instruction they have shared
for God's continued blessing on                     Hull Protestant Reformed School               with us. We pray that the Lord will
them in their life together.                                     218 Second St.                   continue to hold them in His care.
     "But the mercy of the Lord is                               Hull, IA 51239                       "But the mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting upon                                                              from everlasting to everlasting upon
them that fear him, and his righ-                                                                 them that fear him, and his righ-
teousness unto children's children;                                                               teousness unto ,children's children"
to such as keep his covenant, and                      WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                        (Psalm 103:17).
to those that remember his com-                        On April 29, 1995, our parents             @ Jim and Carol Schimmel
mandments to do them" (Psalm                       and grandparents,                              $I? Dan and Judy Schimmel
103:17-18).                                         ERNEST and GRACE MEDEMA,                      %? Hank and Deb VanderWaal
@ Rick and Sue Noorman                             will celebrate their 35th wedding an-          $& Ruth Kerkstra
          Michael, Joel, Denise, David,            niversary.                                     & Dave and Shelly Schimmel
                                      Taylor           We rejoice with them in this time          I% Tim and Yvonne Schimmel
@? Gary and Joyce Noorman                          of celebration of God's faithfulness           $I? Tom and Beth Schimmel
          Lisa, Chad, Paul                         and His care of them and give                        25 grandchildren
@ Jim and Faith Noorman                            thanks to our heavenly Father for                                       &and   Raplds, Mlchlgan
          Alison, Elizabeth, Benjamin              having given us God-fearing par-
& Keith and Sara Noorman                           ents. We thank our parents for their
          Kyle, Jared                              love and commitment to rearing us
                              Jenlson, Mlchlgan    in godliness and pray that the Lord
                                                   will continue to bless them and keep
                                                   them in His care.
                NOTICE!!                               "But the lovingkindness of the                         ATTENTION!
     Hudsonville Protestant Re-                    Lord is from everlasting to everlast-              Bethel Protestant Reformed
formed Evangelism Committee has                    ing upon them that fear him, and               Church has changed the location of
available a two-tape set (audio or                 his righteousness unto children's              its worship services to the Holiday
video) of the two-day Evangelism                   children" (Psalm 103:17).                      Inn, 680 Irving Park Rd., Itasca, IL.
Conference held April 29, 30, 1994.                @ Thomas and Brenda Medema                     All visitors, friends, and Protestant
Three interesting and informative                        Amanda and Trisha                        Reformed brethren please take note!
speeches on evangelism and wit-                    @ Peter Medema                                 Take Exit 290 west on Thorndale
nessing by Revs. Terpstra, Mahtani,                @ Nancy Medema                                 Rd. Take Rohling Rd. south to Irv-
and Bruinsma are included. The                     & Ralph Medema                                 ing Park. Turn east and go l/4 mile
cost is $4.00 for audio, $7.00 for                 % Matthew Medema                               to the Holiday Inn.
video. If you are interested, please               @ David and Kimberly Moore                         "For the Lord's portion is his
`contact Hib Kuiper, Jr., at (616) 669-                  Kelsey                                   people; Jacob is the lot of his inher-
1993 or Pete Kamps at (616) 249-                   $l? J. Scott Medema                            itance" (Deuteronomy 32:9).
731 4.                                                                             Lansing, IL


360lStandard  Bearer/April 15,1995


