                   THE
             STANDARD
A Reformed
Semi-Monthly       BEARER
Magazine





                     ...  preaching  is  heavenly.
                     And because it nevertheless
                     takes  place  in  the  world,
                     preaching  is  an  intrusion
                     into this world, an invasion
                     of  this  world  by  forces  and
                     powers  that  belong  only  to
                     heaven.  ...this is why some
                     will  die  to  hear  it,  and  oth-
                     ers will murder to stop it.



                          See "Special Feature" -- p. 445

Vol. 72, No. 19
August 1, 1996


                                                                                                                                                    THE
CONTENTS:                                                                         August 1, 1996                                             STANDARD
                                                                                                                                                  BEARER
Meditation -- Rev. James D. Slopsema                                                                                   ISSN 0362-4692
     Being a Crown of Glory to Our Family ..........................................435
                                                                                                                      Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
Editorial -- Prof. David J. Engelsma
                                                                                                                      Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
     A Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism                                                                           4949 Ivanrest Ave., Grandville, MI  49418.  Periodical Postage
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     8.  Those Glorious Prospects in Old Testament Prophecy .......437
Letters .......................................................................................................440    Postmaster:  Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
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Ministering to the Saints -- Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                                      EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
     The Elders and the Care of the Congregation .............................444                                     Editor:  Prof. David J. Engelsma
Special Feature -- Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                                                               Secretary:  Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                                      Managing Editor:  Mr. Don Doezema
     Redemptive-Historical Preaching &
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     Preaching Christ Crucified ..............................................................445
                                                                                                                      Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma, Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert
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                                                                                                                      Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. Jason Kortering, Rev. Dale
     Further Correspondence .................................................................448
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In His Fear -- Rev. Arie denHartog                                                                                     Thomas Miersma, Rev. Gise VanBaren, Rev. Ronald
                                                                                                                      VanOverloop, Mr. Benjamin Wigger, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg.
     He that Sitteth in the Heavens Shall Laugh (2) ............................450
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434/ Standard  Bearer  /August  1,  1996


  Meditation                                                                                     Rev. James Slopsema



                  Being a Crown of Glory
                                       to Our Family

        Children's children are the crown       different purposes in Bible times.           children  along  with  old  men.
of old men; and the glory of children           When  we  think  of  a  crown,  we           These are grandchildren and their
are their fathers.                              usually think of a king.  A crown            grandparents.  Then again mention
                             Proverbs 17:6      was  worn  by  a  king  as  a symbol         is  made  of  children  and  their  fa-
                                                of  his  royal  position.    The             thers.  This gives us three genera-
        It  is  possible  for  a  person  to    highpriest also wore  a crown,  al-          tions:    children,  parents,  and
bring honor and glory to his fam-               though not the kind of crown we              grandparents.
ily.                                            usually think of.  Fixed to the front            The  family  mentioned  in  this
        It is also possible for a person        of his headpiece (mitre) was a gold          proverb is a covenant family.  The
to bring shame and humiliation to               plate on which were inscribed the            perspective  of  the  book  of  Prov-
his family.                                     words,  "Holy  to  Jehovah."    This         erbs is that of the church and cov-
        There are fathers and mothers           was  his  crown  (Ex.  39:30,  31).   It     enant as it comes to visible mani-
who have brought shame and dis-                 served  the  purpose  of  consecra-          festation  in  the  world.    The  cov-
grace to their children through sin-            tion, i.e., setting him apart for spe-       enant of God is not with isolated
ful  living.    There  are  fathers  and        cial  service  to  the  LORD.    Finally,    individuals  here  and  there  but
mothers who have brought honor                  the  crown  was  used  to  exalt  and        with families in their generations
to their children by being examples             honor  someone.    Crowns  were              (Gen.  17:7).    So  in  the  covenant
of godliness.                                   given,  for  example,  to  honor  the        family  described  in  this  proverb
        There  are  children  who  have         victors  in  athletic  competitions.         there  are  children,  parents,  and
brought  shame  to  their  parents              Crowns  of  honor  were  given  to           grandparents.
through  rebellion  and  great  sin.            those accomplishing great feats in               The  point  of  our  proverb  is
And  then  there  are  children  who            war.    Crowns  were  also  given  to        that  within  the  covenant  family
have brought honor to father and                honor  special  guests,  who  were           grandchildren  are  a  crown  that
mother by their godliness.                      also given seats of honor at feasts.         brings  honor  and  glory  to  their
        What  do  you  bring  to  your              It  is  this  latter  idea  that  we     grandparents.  This is true with re-
family?    glory  and  honor?  or               find in this proverb.  This is evi-          spect to children and their parents
shame?                                          dent from the fact that the idea of          too.  But the point is that covenant
        This is the subject of the prov-        glory appears in this proverb as a           children are crowns of glory even
erb before us.                                  parallel  thought.  Children's  chil-        to  their  grandparents.    In  turn,
        Children's  children  are  the          dren are the crown of old men; and           covenant  parents  are  a  crown  of
crown  of  old  men;  and  the  glory           the  glory  of  children  are  their  fa-    glory to their children.  This is also
of children are their fathers.                  thers.  On the basis of this parallel        true of grandparents.  Parents and
               * * * * * * * * * *              we can speak of a crown of glory,            grandparents  serve  as  crowns  to
        This  proverb  speaks  of  a            a  phrase  that  appears  often  in          covenant  children,  crowns  that
crown.                                          Scripture.   A  crown  of  glory is a        give them honor and glory.
        Crowns  served  a  number  of           crown that gives honor and glory                        * * * * * * * * * *
                                                to those who possess and wear it.                How is this true?
                                                    Our proverb speaks of various                Many consider a family mem-
                                                family  members  who  serve  as  a           ber to be a crown, bringing honor
                                                crown of glory to the rest of their          and glory to the family, when that
Rev. Slopsema is pastor of First Prot-          family.                                      family  member  accomplishes
estant    Reformed   Church  in  Grand              Mention is made of children's            greatness in the sight of the world.
Rapids, Michigan.

                                                                                             August  1,  1996/ Standard  Bearer /435


Our society, for example, places a          fore us in His Word.  This involves          parents  and  grandparents.    They
great value on athletic ability and         meeting  our  responsibilities  in           are  crowns  of  glory  to  their  chil-
feats.  What an honor it is to have         marriage,  in  the  home,  in  the           dren  and  grandchildren.    What  a
a son or daughter excel in sports           church,  in  every  part  of  our  life,     distinction  of  honor  for  children
in high school.  Better still it is if      and doing so in the loving service           of  the  covenant  to  have  God  as
he  or  she  goes  on  to  star  on  the    of God.                                      their  father  in  Jesus  Christ.   This
college  level.    And  what  glory             Such  godliness  is  glorious.           is a crown of glory.  So too is the
there is for the few (and their fami-       Those who conform their lives to             earthly  parent  who  reflects  this
lies)  that  make  it  to  the  profes-     God's law in godliness reflect the           same heavenly father, a crown giv-
sional ranks.  The same is true for         very  goodness  and  perfection  of          ing glory to every covenant child.
position  and  wealth.    What  an          God.  What is more glorious than                          * * * * * * * * * *
honor to those parents whose son            that?  In addition, such godliness                 The  glorious  reality  set  forth
has  made  it  big  in  the  business       has a great and eternal reward --             in this parable is not always found
world.  What an honor to have a             the glory of eternal life in heaven.         in the church and covenant of God
parent  who  is  a  congressman,  a             One is a crown of glory to his           as they come to visible manifesta-
judge, a lawyer, a doctor....               family  only  inasmuch  as  he  lives        tion in the world.
    Members  of  the  household  of         and  displays  this  godliness,                    The sad fact is that sometimes
faith  are  often  influenced  by  this     whether he be child, parent, or                    family members, even members
kind  of  thinking.    They  tend  to       grandchild.                                           of covenant families, can be
consider great those who have at-               Such  crowns  of  glory                            crowns of thorns, bringing
tained greatness in the eyes of the         are found in the covenant           The sad fact        shame  and  disgrace
world.    They  also are  inclined  to      home and family.                       is that           rather  than  honor  and
consider  those  in  their  families            In  a  covenant  home            sometimes           glory.    There  are  many
who attain such greatness to be a           are  found  believing  par-        family members,       examples  of  this  in
crown  giving  honor  and  glory  to        ents  (and  grandparents)           even members         Scripture.   Think  of  the
the  family.    Sometimes  covenant         who  by  reason  of  their           of covenant         ignominy  brought  upon
parents  even  push  their  children        faith  live  in  godliness  in        families,          old Eli by his two wicked
in this direction.                          Jesus Christ.  By reason of         can be crowns        sons,       Hophni      and
    But this ought not to be.  The          their  faith  they  also  train      of thorns....      Phineas.    Think  of  the
measure  of  greatness  is  not  ath-       their children in this godli-                          grief  but  also  shame  that
letic  achievement,  riches,  power,        ness.  They do so in word and                         Abraham had to endure be-
position in society.   The proof of         by example.  In a covenant home              cause  of  his  wicked  son  Ishmael
this is that these will mean noth-          you will also find children who by           and  profane  grandson  Esau.    In
ing to the Lord in the day of judg-         God's  grace  are  receptive  to  the        turn, what a  crown of  shame the
ment.  If all we can show the Lord          training  of  godly  parents.    And         wicked King Ahaz must have been
in  the  day  of  judgment  are  great      through the work of their parents            to his godly son Hezekiah.
athletic  achievements,  riches,  po-       these  children  come  to  know  the               There are reasons for this kind
sition, and the like, we will perish        Lord,  live  by  faith  in  Him  and         of thing in the covenant.
eternally.  This is not to  say that        walk in the godliness of their par-                First, not all who are born into
these accomplishments are wrong.            ents (and grandparents).                     the covenant as it comes to visible
But it does mean that they are not              Thus  do  children  in  the  cov-        manifestation in the world are true
the essence of true greatness and           enant  become  crowns  of  glory  to         members  of  the  covenant.    Born
honor.  Nor must we consider one            their  parents  and  grandparents.           within  the  covenant  is  a  carnal,
a  crown  of  glory  to  us  and  our       No, parents cannot boast of what             reprobate  seed  that  will  never
family  simply  because  of  these          they  have  accomplished;  for  all          come  to  know  the  Lord  Jesus.
kinds of earthly achievements.              that  their  children  become  in            These will never come to godliness
    One is a crown of glory to his          Christ  is  of  God's  grace.  Every         but  will  live  their  whole  lives  in
family only when he lives in god-           godly parent acknowledges that he            the  wickedness  of  sin,  often
liness.                                     is  at  best  only  a  weak  means  in       abounding in sin.
    Godliness  is  living  that  is  in     God's  powerful  hand.    Neverthe-                Secondly, the true members of
harmony with the Word and will              less, it is a great honor to be privi-       God's  covenant  do  not  always
of  God.  This  godliness  involves         leged in God's grace to bear cov-            walk  in  godliness.      This  is  the
both  a  negative  and  a  positive.        enant children, train them, and see          case,  for example,  with  regard  to
Negatively,  godliness  is  to  avoid       the  glorious  fruits  of  godliness.        children and young people of the
the  sins  and  corruption  of  this        What  crowns  of  glory  such  chil-         covenant whom God does not con-
present age.  Positively, godliness         dren are.                                    vert until later in life.  There  are
is to do the work God has set be-               The same can be said for godly           also  believing  adults  who  back-

436/ Standard  Bearer  /August  1,  1996


slide and sometimes stray far into           godliness  so  that  you  are  crowns          To those, young and old, who
the sins of the world, even for long         of  glory  to  you  children  and          find that they are crowns of shame
periods of time.  For the duration           grandchildren.    In  that  godliness      to  their  families  there  is  the  call-
of their sin they become crowns of           teach your children and grandchil-         ing  to  repent  and  in  Jesus  Christ
thorns  to  their  families,  bringing       dren what the glorious life of the         live in godliness that they may be-
shame and humiliation.                       covenant is.                               come crowns of glory.
    This leaves us with a calling.               And  to  children  there  is  this         How urgent is this calling?
    Our  calling  is  to  walk  in  all      calling:  receive the instruction and          There  is  more  involved  than
godliness  in  the  power  of  Jesus         example  of  your  parents  and            the  honor  or  shame  you  bring  to
Christ,  in  order  that  each  one  of      grandparents.  Walk in the godli-          your family.
us may be a crown of glory to his            ness  of  your  faithful  parents  and         There  is  also  the  honor  and
family.                                      grandparents,  in  order  that  you        shame you bring to the family of
    This calling comes first to par-         too  may  be  a  crown  of  glory  to      God and to your Father in heaven!
ents  and  grandparents.    Live  in         them.                                                                                  u


  Editorial


                                      A Defense of
           (Reformed) Amillennialism
    8. Those Glorious Prospects in Old Testament Prophecy


                                             filling the whole earth, of Daniel 2           Herman  Bavinck  profoundly
    It  is  those  glorious  prospects       --  these  are  the  prophecies  and        and  powerfully  voiced  this  New
in  Old  Testament  prophecy  that           these are the passages that ground,        Testament witness when he wrote:
are the real basis in Scripture for          and motivate, postmillennialism.
the  postmillennial  dream.    The                                                          Jesus only knows of two aeons:
postmillennialists  make  a  half-             Avoiding the New Testament                 the present and the future aeons.
                                                                                          In the present aeon his  disciples
hearted  appeal  to  Revelation  20                          Testimony                    cannot expect anything other than
(see the editorial in the  Standard              There  is  a  reason  for  this.         oppression  and  persecution  and
Bearer, April 15, 1995).   They  re-         There  is  a  reason  why  postmil-          must  forsake  all  things  for  his
fer to a stray text, here and there,         lennialism  deliberately  takes  its         sake.    Jesus  nowhere  predicts  a
in the New Testament.  But their             stand on Old Testament Scripture.            glorious future on earth before the
theory  of  the  last  things  rests,  in    The reason is that the New Testa-            end  of  the  world.    On  the  con-
the end, on Old Testament proph-             ment  is  against  their  theory  of  a      trary,  the  things  he  experienced
ecy,  specifically,  Old  Testament          coming  "golden  age"  for  the              are the things his church will ex-
prophecy  of  the  coming,  victori-         church before the return of Christ.          perience.  A disciple is not above
                                                                                          his teacher, nor a slave above the
ous, glorious Messianic kingdom.             The massive testimony of the New             master.  Only in the age to come
    Here,  in  the  Old  Testament           Testament is that the little flock of        will  his  disciples  receive  every-
prophecies  that  hold  out  grand           Christ  will  suffer  tribulation            thing back along with eternal life
prospects for the future, is the bul-        throughout the present age.  At the          (Matt.  19:27-30;  cf.  Matt.  5:3-12;
wark       of     postmillennialism.         end,  lawlessness  will  increase  in        8:19,  20;  10:16-42;  16:24-27;  John
Messiah's  rule  over  the  nations          the world, there will be great apos-         16:2, 33; 17:14, 15, etc.)
with the iron rod, of Psalm 2; the           tasy  in  the  sphere  of  the  visible        The  whole  New  Testament,
peaceful kingdom, of Psalm 72; the           church, Antichrist will be revealed,         which was written from the view-
filling of the earth with the knowl-         and  the  saints  will  endure  great        point  of  the  "church  under  the
                                                                                          cross," speaks the same language.
edge of Jehovah, of Isaiah 11; the           persecution  (Luke  12:32;  John             Believers  ...  should  not  expect
prosperous condition of the saints,          15:18ff.;  Matt.  24:3-31;  II  Thess.       anything on earth other than suf-
of  Isaiah  65;  and  the  little  stone     2:3ff.; Revelation).                         fering and oppression (Rom. 8:36;

                                                                                        August  1,  1996/ Standard  Bearer /437


  Phil.  1:29).    They  are  sojourners       I  Tim.  4:1)  (The  Last  Things:         gospel revelation.  As Augustine
  and foreigners (Heb. 11:13); their           Hope  for  This  World  and  the           expressed it so aptly:  "In the Old
  citizenship is in the heavens (Phil.         Next, Baker, 1996, pp. 109, 110).          Testament  the  New  is  concealed
  3:20)....  Therefore, along with the                                                    (latet); in the New Testament the
  entire groaning creation, they wait         Ominous Concentration on the                Old is revealed (patet)."  This does
  with eager longing for the future                     Old Testament                     not mean that the New Testament
  of Christ and for the revelation of            Postmillennialism, therefore, is         conflicts with the Old Testament,
  the glory of the children of God                                                        but rather that it explains it and
                                             forced  back  upon  the  Old  Testa-
  (Rom. 8:19; I Cor. 15:48f.), a glory                                                    that  its  explanation  is  to  be  ac-
  with  which  the  sufferings  of  the      ment.  This bypassing of the New             cepted as authoritative  (Prophecy
  present time are not worth com-            Testament in order to rely on the            and the Church, Presbyterian and
  paring  (Rom.  8:18;  2  Cor.  4:17).      Old  Testament  is  both  erroneous          Reformed, 1964, pp. 48, 49).
  Nowhere  in  the  New  Testament           and  ominous.    The  reason  is  not
  is  there  a  ray  of  hope  that  the     that  the  Old  is  not  inspired  and         Bavinck made the same telling
  church of Christ will again come           authoritative,  or  that  the  Old  is     point  against  the  chiliasts,  or
  to power and dominion on earth.            less  inspired  and  authoritative         millennialists.    Bavinck  observed
  The most it may look for is that,          than  the  New.    But  the  reason  is    that  this  teaching  of  a  future,
  under  kings  and  all  who  are  in       that the New Testament is the ful-
  high positions, it may lead a quiet                                                   earthly kingdom of God "loves to
  and peaceable life in all godliness        fillment of the Old Testament.  As         appeal" to the court of Old Testa-
  and  dignity  (Rom.  13:1;  I  Tim.        the  fulfillment  particularly  of  the    ment prophecy.  With specific ref-
  2:2).    Therefore,  the  New  Testa-      eschatology of the Old Testament,          erence to the millennial insistence
  ment does not first of all recom-          the  New  Testament  both  clarifies       on interpreting this Old Testament
  mend the virtues that enable be-           and  authoritatively  explains  the        prophecy  literally,  disregarding
  lievers to conquer the world but,          Old  Testament  prophecies  of  the        the  teaching  of  the  New  Testa-
  while it bids them avoid all false         last things.                               ment, Bavinck stated:
  asceticism (Rom. 14:14; I Tim. 4:4,            A sound interpreter reads the
  5; Titus 1:15), lists as fruits of the     Old Testament in the light of the            ... what the Spirit of Christ who
  Spirit  the  virtues  of  love,  joy,
  peace,  patience,  kindness,  gener-       New Testament.  He does not force            was in them (the Old Testament
  osity, faithfulness, gentleness, and       his understanding of the Old Tes-            prophets  --  DJE)  wished  to  de-
  self-control  (Gal.  5:22;  Eph.  4:32;    tament upon New Testament doc-               clare and reveal by them ... is de-
  I Thess. 5:14f.; I Peter 3:8f.; 2 Pe-      trine.                                       cided  by  the  New  Testament,
                                                                                          which  is  the  completion,  fulfill-
  ter1:5-7; I John 2:15, etc.).                  The renowned Old Testament
    It is a constant New Testament                                                        ment, and therefore interpretation
                                             scholar O. T. Allis called attention
  expectation  that  to  the  extent  to                                                  of the Old.... The New Testament
                                             to  the  error  of  ignoring  the
  which  the  gospel  of  the  cross  is                                                  views itself -- and there can cer-
                                             eschatology of the New Testament,
  spread abroad, to that extent the                                                       tainly be no doubt about this --
                                             while concentrating on that of the           as the spiritual and therefore com-
  hostility  of  the  world  will  be
  manifested as well....  In the last        Old Testament, in his classic refu-          plete and authentic fulfillment of
  days,  the  days  that  precede  the       tation of dispensational premillen-          the  Old  Testament....    The  New
  return  of  Christ,  the  wickedness       nialism (the "rapture theory").  He          Testament  is  the  truth,  the  es-
  of  human  beings  will  rise  to  a       noted  "the  tendency  to  exalt  the        sence,  the  core,  and  the  actual
                                                                                          content of the Old Testament (The
  fearful  level.   The days  of Noah        Old  Testament  at  the  expense  of
  will  return.    Lust,  sensual  plea-                                                  Last Things, pp. 91-98).
                                             the New Testament, to insist that
  sures,  lawlessness,  greed,  unbe-        its  (the  Old  Testament's)  predic-
  lief, pride, mockery, and slander                                                         What is ominous is that in bas-
                                             tions stand,  we  may  say, in  their
  will erupt in fearful ways (Matt.                                                     ing its doctrine of the end on Old
                                             own right, and are in no sense de-
  24:37f.; Luke 17:26f.; 2 Tim. 3:1; 2                                                  Testament  prophecy,  rather  than
  Peter  3:3;  Jude  18).    Among  be-      pendent upon the New Testament             on  New  Testament  clarification
  lievers  as  well  there  will  be  ex-    for amplification, illumination, or        and  interpretation  of  Old  Testa-
  tensive  apostasy.    Temptations          interpretation."   On  the  contrary,      ment prophecy, postmillennialism,
  will be so powerful that, were it          wrote Allis:                               which claims to be Reformed, lines
  possible, even the elect would be                                                     up  with  anti-Reformed  dispensa-
  caused to fall.  The love of many            The  doctrine  of  the  Christian
  will grow cold and  vigilance di-                                                     tionalism.
                                               Church, as generally accepted, has
  minish to the extent that the wise           always been that the New Testa-
  will  fall  asleep  along  with  the         ment  takes  precedence  over  the                The All-Important
  foolish virgins.  Apostasy will be           Old, that Christ and His apostles               Kingdom Prophecies
  so  general  that  Jesus  can  ask           are  the  authoritative  interpreters        That Old Testament prophecy
  whether at his coming the Son of             of  the  Old  Testament,  that  its      is, in fact, the real biblical basis of
  man will still find faith on earth           types and shadows are to be in-          postmillennialism is evident from
  (Matt. 24:24, 44f.; 25:1f.; Luke 18:8;       terpreted in the light of the clearer    such a representative and influen-

438/ Standard  Bearer  /August  1,  1996


tial book as Loraine Boettner's The         Jehovah  God's  promise  that  He           stands  Isaiah  65  to  be  promising
Millennium (Presbyterian and Re-            creates  "new  heavens  and  a  new         "a period of unprecedented, literal
formed, 1958).  The texts put for-          earth"  (v.  17).    Verse  20  declares    (read:    physical,  carnal  --  DJE)
ward  in  support  of  postmil-             that in this new world "there shall         blessings  ...  for  mankind  prior  to
lennialism are largely drawn from           be  no  more  thence  an  infant  of        the resurrection."  With a curious
the  Old  Testament,  e.g.,  among          days, nor an old man that hath not          disregard  for  the  eschatological
others,  Psalm  97;  Zechariah  9:10;       filled his days:  for the child shall       lineup that he is suggesting, Gen-
Psalm  2;  Psalm  72;  Isaiah  2;  and      die an hundred years old; but the           try  says  that  Isaiah  65  "poses  no
Daniel 2.  The only New Testament           sinner being an hundred years old           problem for the  postmillennialist,
passage  referred  to  that  conceiv-       shall  be  accursed."    Verses  21-23      nor  ...  for  the  premillennialist."
ably bears on the issue is Matthew          prophesy  a  peaceful,  prosperous,         Both of them expect, and desire, a
13:33, the parable of the leaven (see       profitable  life  for  the  elect  and      carnal kingdom in history, stuffed
pages 22-29).                               their offspring.  The passage ends          with  material  goodies.    But  the
    The  main  objection  raised  by        by extending the peace of the new           passage
Boettner against amillennialism is          creation to the animal world:  "The
the kingdom prophecies in the Old           wolf  and  the  lamb  shall  feed  to-        is,  however,  a  decided  problem
Testament:                                  gether, and the lion shall eat straw          for  the  amillennialist.    It  is  per-
                                            like the bullock...."                         haps  the  greatest  single  exegeti-
  We understand the Bible to teach              I  choose  this  passage  deliber-        cal  problem  facing  amillennial-
  very  definitely  that  the  world  is    ately.  The postmillennialists them-          ism, which is why amillennialists
  to be converted to Christianity be-                                                     rarely  comment  on  the  passage,
                                            selves appeal to this passage as the
  fore  Christ  returns,  and  that  the                                                  and  when  they  do,  they  do  not
                                            strongest support of their doctrine
  amillennial position, which makes                                                       make  a  great  deal  of  sense  (He
                                            of a coming golden age and as the
  no  provision  for  a  Christianized                                                    Shall  Have  Dominion:    A  Post-
  world,  leaves  a  whole  continent       clearest  refutation  of  amillen-            millennial  Eschatology,  Institute
  of prophecies unexplained, many           nialism.  Their argument is that the          for Christian Economics, 1992, pp.
  of which then become quite mean-          passage  predicts  a  renewed  cre-           360-365).
  ingless.  The kingdom prophecies          ation  in  which  there  will  yet  be
  of the Old Testament, as well as          both  death  and  sinners.    In  the                The Postmillennial
  various statements in the Psalms          world of new heavens and a new                  Interpretation of Isaiah 65
  and in the New Testament, often           earth, a child will die at 100 and              The  postmillennial  interpreta-
  in  highly  figurative  language,         sinners will be accursed.  This can-        tion  of  the  passage  is  that  Christ
  surely foretell a future golden age       not be the case in the new creation         will triumph in history in such  a
  of some kind.                             after Jesus' return, but this will be       way  that  the  saints  will  enjoy
                                                                                        earthly  peace,  earthly  prosperity,
    Boettner  added  a  significant,        true in the golden age of postmil-
                                                                                        and very long earthly life.  Some-
self-incriminating statement:  "We          lennialism.
                                                                                        how, there will even be a kind of
are  bound  to  say  that  in  this  re-        Postmillennialist,  Christian
                                                                                        "transformation"  of  nature.    But
gard  we  agree  with  the  Premil-         Reconstructionist  Gary  North  as-
                                                                                        this will take place before the sec-
lennialists,  as  against  the  Amil-       sures  his  readers  that  "this  de-
                                                                                        ond  coming  of  Christ,  since,  ac-
lennialists."   I intend to come back       tailed and obviously literal proph-
                                                                                        cording to verse 20, children shall
to  this  suspicious  agreement  of         ecy, above all other passages in the
                                                                                        die and sinners shall be accursed.
postmillennialism  and  premillen-          Bible, poses the greatest problems
                                                                                            Listen, critically, to Dr. North:
nialism in a future article.                for  amillennialists,  who  deny  the
    The  kingdom  prophecies  that          coming  of  any  period  of  literal
                                                                                            This process of cosmic transfor-
Boettner mentioned are Isaiah 2:2-          worldwide  blessings"  (Uncondi-              mation will accelerate in response
4;  Micah  4:1-5;  Isaiah  11:1-10;         tional Surrender:  God's Program              to the spread of the gospel.  Man's
Isaiah  42:1-4;  Isaiah  65:17-25;          for Victory, Institute for Christian          genetic  code  will  eventually  be
Jeremiah  31:31-34;  Joel  2:28;            Economics, 1988, p. 145).                     healed,  so  that  there  will  be  no
Malachi  1:11;  and  Psalm  72  (see            Kenneth  L.  Gentry,  Jr.  calls          more  miscarriages;  this  same
pp. 119-124).                               Isaiah  65  "the  major  passage  set-        promise  applies  even  to  his  do-
                                            ting forth the spiritual conception           mesticated  animals  (Exodus
           A Crucial Text                   of  the  change  wrought  by  Christ          23:26).  Sickness will be removed
                                                                                          (Exodus  23:25).    These  blessings
    We may take Isaiah 65:17-25 as          in  history."    The  unwary  reader
                                                                                          were  available  to  the  Israelites,
representative of all the  Old  Tes-        must  not  be  deceived  by  the              but they failed to obey God's law.
tament  prophecies  upon  which             words,  "spiritual  conception."              These blessings are still available
postmillennialism  pins  its  hope.         Gentry  does  not  have  in  mind             to us. Isaiah promised that man's
This is the passage that begins with        spiritual blessings such as the for-          life  expectancy  will  someday  in-
                                            giveness  of  sins.    Gentry  under-

                                                                                        August  1,  1996/ Standard  Bearer /439


     crease:  "There shall be no more              ently  works.    And  it  will  come        time  called  the  new  heavens  and
     thence an infant of days, nor  an             specifically in response to the ethi-       new earth:  "For, behold, I create
     old  man  that  hath  not  filled  his        cal  transformation  of  the  great         new heavens and a new earth" (v.
     days:    for  the  child  shall  die  an      portion of mankind:  "And it shall          17a).  Obviously, this cannot pos-
     hundred years old; but the sinner             come to pass, that before they call,        sibly refer to a period beyond the
     being an hundred years old shall              I will answer; and while they are           final  resurrection,  for  there  will
     be  accursed"  (Isaiah  65:20).               yet speaking, I will hear" (v. 24).         be  no  sinners  among  us  then.
     Time's threat will therefore be re-             Notice  that  Isaiah  was  not            They will all be in the lake of fire,
     duced.  This future era will rep-             speaking about the world beyond             along with Satan and his angelic
     resent a return to the lifespans of           the grave and after the final judg-         host (Revelation 20:14-15).  There-
     men  before  the  great  flood.    So         ment, for sinners will still be op-         fore, the new heavens and new earth
     great will be the visible and bio-            erating in the future period of his-        must begin before Christ comes again
     logical  blessings  of  God  that  it         tory described by the prophet.  He          in final judgment.   (Unconditional
     will be a fundamental transforma-             was  speaking  about  a  period  of         Surrender, pp. 143-145).    u
     tion  of  the  way  our  world  pres-                                                                                      -- DJE


     Letters

                                                 problems.    Why  point  out  health            If one gives good family struc-
                                                 when we send ministers to preach            ture  as  a  ground  for  doing  mis-
                                                 healing to the sick?  "They that are        sion  work,  then  he  makes  an
s                                                whole have no need of the physi-            unbiblical  limitation  to  mission
       Family Structure and
                                                 cian, but they that are sick:  I came       work.    We  may  not  raise  up  our
Missions
                                                 not to call the righteous, but sin-         own mission boundaries when the
                                                 ners to repentance" (Mark 2:17).            Scriptures clearly say, "Go ye into
       I very much appreciated Rev.
                                                     I realize that the publicans and        all the world, and preach the gos-
Allen Brummel's article in the May
                                                 sinners are those who know them-            pel to every creature" (Mark 16:15).
15 issue of the  Standard Bearer en-
                                                 selves  by  the  grace  of  God  to  be     Mission work is not about conve-
titled  "The  Foreign  Mission  Call-
                                                 sinners and therefore seek out the          nience.  We need people who, like
ing  of  the  Church."    The  true
                                                 physician.    I  am  not  saying  that      Paul, are willing if need be to en-
church  always  rejoices  when  the
                                                 we should limit our mission work            dure  perils  of  countrymen,  hea-
call of the gospel goes out to the
                                                 to the prostitutes and those in dis-        then,  city,  wilderness,  sea,  false
remote  regions  of  the  earth  and
                                                 torted  and  broken  homes.    Cer-         brethren,  weariness  and  painful-
brings the lost sheep into the fold.
                                                 tainly the interest in the Reformed         ness,  watchings  often,  in  hunger
In particular I appreciated the wise
                                                 faith among the young and old in            and thirst, in fastings often, in cold
advice to individuals and evange-
                                                 Ghana is good evidence of people            and  nakedness,  in  the  care  of  all
lism societies, and the willingness
                                                 who  know  themselves  to  be  sin-         the  churches.    Our  God  is  sover-
of  the  FMC  to  help  individuals
                                                 ners  in  need  of  God's  sovereign        eign  in  all  things!    We  must  not
with their contacts.  I would like
                                                 grace.  Certainly we ought to send          limit our work to those with strong
to  see  more  articles  on  the  mis-
                                                 help to these people.                       covenant families.
sion work of our churches.
                                                     The interest these people have              Strong  covenant  families  are
       I have one difficulty, however,
                                                 for  the  Reformed  faith  is  a  good      the goal of our mission work, not
with the above mentioned article.
                                                 ground for working among them,              the ground for our mission work.
Rev.  Brummel  states  as  the  third
                                                 but  the  fact  that  their  society  is    There  is  no  doubt  that  a  strong
ground for calling a missionary to
                                                 conducive to strong families is not         covenant family is a difficult goal
Ghana:  "The Ghanians' lives are
                                                 a ground for doing mission work.            to  reach  in  countries  where  the
not adverse to the covenant.  The
                                                 That  is my  point.    An  interest  in     Christian  faith  has  not  formed
family  is  considered  even  by  the
                                                 the  Reformed  faith  and  a  strong        some of the basic social structures
pagans  there  as  an  important
                                                 family structure are two different          as it has in the history of Western
structure  of  society.    There  are
                                                 things.  One is a ground for mis-           civilization.    In  this  connection  I
many  families,  including  many
                                                 sion work and the other is a goal.          think the idea mentioned by Rev.
young  people,  male  and  female,
                                                 There  are  many  "publicans  and           Brummel  to  send  volunteer  help-
who are interested in the Reformed
                                                 sinners"  who  seek  the  Reformed          ers  with  the  missionary  is an  ex-
faith.  The institution of marriage
                                                 faith and yet have distorted fami-          cellent idea.  One area in which a
is honored."  How is this a ground
                                                 lies  and  live  within  social  struc-     helper would be crucial in any mis-
for doing mission work?  I would
                                                 tures that are corrosive to the cov-        sion work would be Christian edu-
expect  the  grounds  to  include
                                                 enant family.                               cation.  We ought to be consistent.
some  of  the  spiritual  and  family

440/ Standard  Bearer  /August  1,  1996


We  firmly  believe  that  the  cov-         to do mission work.  Although we            church, strong homes, and Chris-
enant  demands  of  us  a  Christian         might desire to go to every nation,         tian schools are distinct possibili-
education for our children.  Thus            tribe, and people, we do not have           ties.
a  Christian  school  is  just  as  im-      the  manpower  and  the  ability  to                     -- Rev. Allen Brummel
portant for the mission field as are         do  so.    God  must  open  the  door
strong  homes  and  an  indigenous           for  us  and  provide  the  resources
church.    A  strong  indigenous             necessary for us to labor faithfully        s    More on Gill and Call
church  goes  hand-in-hand  with             in  the  countries  of  His  choosing.
strong  homes  and  Christian                In order to determine where it is                Thank  you  for  your  kind  in-
schools.    The  home,  school,  and         that the  Lord is leading we must           sertion  of  my  letter  re  Gill  and
church belong to and grow out of             prayerfully evaluate and research           your  brotherly  remarks  (Standard
the one covenant of friendship.  If          the  situations  and  circumstances         Bearer, June 1, 1996).  It is good to
the family structure is poor, then           which He presents before us.  We            find  a  magazine  eager  to  do  the
we must preach the truth of God's            must determine as well as we are            work of the Bereans and sound out
Word  concerning  sound  families,           able  whether  we  have  the  man-          the Word of God.  May I humbly
but also help the families rear their        power and the financial ability to          try to help you discover some vi-
children  by  providing  teachers            continue or to take up the work.            tal points missed in your response?
who can instruct the church of the               Our experience as churches in           Gill certainly does not make a dis-
future  in  covenant  living  within         mission  work  suggests  that  a  la-       tinction  between  an  external  call
their cultural context.                      bor among people who have little            as opposed to the external call.  He
                        John Huizenga        concept  of  family  requires  man-         presents  only  one  external  call,
                       Grandville, MI        power  which  is  not  available  to        though he uses the plural in places
                                             our churches at this time.  The is-         to stress its application, and  this,
Response:                                    sue is not whether or not we must           as  you  say,  is  expressed  in  Mat-
    I  appreciate  your  interest  in        be willing to sacrifice and expend          thew  22:14.    This  is  the  call  to
and  concern  for  the  foreign  mis-        much  energy  for  the  sake  of            which  Gill  often  refers  as  being
sion work of our churches.  Your             Christ's Kingdom, but the issue is:         "under  the  ministrations  of  the
point  is  well  taken  that  mission        Has  God  given  us,  as  Protestant        gospel."
work  must  not  be  limited  to  cer-       Reformed Churches, the resources                 Permit me to remark on your
tain people who give evidence of             necessary to meet the need which            quote  from  The  Body  of  Divinity.
strong  families,  but  that  the  gos-      is evident on a given field?                Gill refers to the subject of the ex-
pel of Jesus Christ must go out to               We  certainly  will  not  ignore        ternal  call  in  several  works,  each
all nations, tongues, and peoples.           certain individuals and countries.          discussion not being exhaustive in
As you properly state, the Protes-           The extent to which we will be able         itself.  It is thus impossible to find
tant Reformed Churches  have the             to help them may vary, however.             all of Gill's teaching in one quote.
calling to preach, teach, and build          Seeing that our experience, ability,        Furthermore,  you  have  merely
up  sinners  wherever  God  opens            and  manpower  are  limited,  we            quoted  a tiny  fraction of a  three-
the way for our involvement.  You            make  the  family  structure  a  defi-      page definition of the external call,
are emphatically correct: "Mission           nite  ground  for  our  going  to           leaving  out  vital  elements.    Note
work is not about convenience."              Ghana.  This is one way in which            the title of the work in its entirety,
    The  point  in  my  article  with        God  is  opening  the  door  for  our       i.e.,  Of  Effectual  Calling.    This
which you take issue is the idea of          sending  missionaries  to  Ghana.           ought  to  have  helped  you  put
making  a  strong  family  structure         The FMC believes that the need in           Gill's  external  call  where  it  be-
a  ground  for  mission  work.  The          Ghana, though significant, is nev-          longs, i.e., as part of God's elect-
Foreign Mission Committee (FMC)              ertheless  attainable  for  our             ing  call.    All  that  Gill  has  to say
is  not  blind  to  the  history  of  the    churches.  This is not to say that          on the subject ought to be summed
mission work of our churches.  We            the saints in Ghana are in no need          up  so  that  the  reader,  moved  by
pose this as a ground for our in-            of instruction in regard to the cov-        God's  enlightening  grace,  can
volvement  in  Ghana  because  we            enant  and  biblical  family.    They       make  a  balanced  judgment.    Too
believe that, although some fields           are.    And  the  work  will  be  de-       little  information  is  wrong  infor-
require  far  more  in  the  way  of         manding, disappointing, and may             mation.  You will note, on reading
manpower and resources than we               take  years  to  establish.  It  will       the introduction to The Body of Di-
have  available,  Ghana  is  a  field        therefore require men and women             vinity, that Gill has a far wider un-
which  by  God's  grace  we  can             willing  to  give  their  lives  to  the    derstanding of the word "external"
work.                                        work.  However, given the situa-            than you credit him with.  The ex-
    The  FMC  must  determine                tion in Ghana, we believe that with         ternal work of God in addressing
where it is that God is leading us           God's blessing a strong indigenous          sinners includes all things in which

                                                                                         August  1,  1996/ Standard  Bearer /441


"the  veracity  of  God  appears."           quote.  See also  The Cause of God           different  emphasis.    I  wrote  my
This includes "the Doctrine of the           and Truth.  Is this not the spirit of        book for the British market but am
Grace of God, that bringeth Salva-           Matthew 22:14?                               amazed to find what an interest it
tion, the good news, the glad tid-               Gill  preached  to  save  sinners        has aroused in the States.
ings of salvation by Christ, which           and expected such conversions as                 It  is  thus  obvious  that  I  am
is  peculiar  to  Gospel  Doctrine."         a  matter  of  course.    This  is  why      partly  to  blame  for  your  misun-
Furthermore, unlike Gill, you seem           any of us preach.  Note Gill's many          derstanding of Gill on repentance
to use this interpretation on good           urgent  pleas  to  his  fellow  minis-       and I am indeed sorry.  Neverthe-
theological and historical grounds,          ters to be fishers of men, spiritual         less, I certainly do not equate faith
pointing  out  that  God  has  a  spe-       fathers  bringing  regeneration  to          in toto with evangelical repentance
cial strategy in the external minis-         many,  bringers  of  converting              as you appear to suggest.  Nor can
try,  beginning  with  the  Jews  and        power, and instruments of God in             I understand how my saying that
spreading the work throughout the            salvation.  He urged openly when             faith is not required of sinful man
world.    The  preaching  ministry,          preaching ordination sermons, for            as a feeling of duty, or that faith
which  is at times synonymous with           instance, that his fellow ministers          expressed in love to Christ is a gift
"the  external  call"  in  Gill's  writ-     ought not to neglect the great com-          of Christ (171) proves that Gill is
ings,  is  a work  of  the  Spirit  who      mission.    Recently  I  read  a  work       a  Hyper-Calvinist.    I  did  not  un-
moves now here, now there.                   criticizing Gill which said he never         derstand  what  you  wrote  about
    Given your limited quote, you            told sinners to flee from the wrath          my (actually, Gill's) alleged "faulty
have  not  even  revealed  its  full         to come.  I opened Gill's sermons            disjunction."    I  fear  that,  again,
message.    You  have  left  out  the        at random and there were the very            you are thinking ill of Gill because
things  appertaining  to  salvation.         words addressed to sinners, which            of  my  explanation  of  his  views.
Indeed, you have claimed they are            Gill  supposedly  never  used,  star-        This  matter,  is  however,  very
not  there!    All  that  Gill  says  the    ing me in the face.  Your reply re-          much a red herring.  Gill's distinc-
external call excludes in your quote         minds me a little of this critic.  We        tion between legal and evangelical
is  that  which  dupes  a  man  into         are all guilty of such blind think-          repentance, as I mentioned in my
thinking he can pick himself up by           ing  at  times.    I  could  not  accept     last letter, has nothing to do with
his own boot straps.  This is where          the  doctrines  of  grace  for  years        Hyper-Calvinism  but  was  shared
we  part  company  with  the                 though they stared me in the face.           by  his  contemporaries  whether
Arminians,          Neo-Platonists,          There is, indeed, a mystery in these         free-grace or free-will men.  I feel
Grotians, and Latitudinarians, and           things.    Knowing  this  makes  me          we ought to be guided by Calvin's
Gill joins us.  All that Gill  includes      humbly persevere with you.                   wisdom here who says he sees the
in the external call is that which,              The problem here seems to be             truth  of  the  distinction  but  feels
by God's grace, a man receives that          that  you  are  allowing  your  1924         there is a better way of expressing
he  might  be  saved.    Surprisingly        controversy  to  colour  your  views         things.  Notice that where Gill dif-
enough,  you  have  not  seen  this          of both Gill and myself.  Neither            fers from the Arminians in the dis-
point and have not thus explained            of us had anything to do with this           tinction, he is more Calvinistic in
to  your  readers  that  the  aim  of        matter, nor did we know anything             his view of repentance.  Gill, how-
God's  external  call,  according  to        about it.  As I quoted in my book,           ever,  always  remains  on  the
Gill, is not only to address all men         Gill believes in universal calls and         sublapsarian  side  of  Calvin.    Of
with  the  gospel  and  improve  the         invitations  under  the  one  condi-         course God demands that mankind
world order but to claim the elect.          tion, "as the Spirit leads."  This is        repent of His broken law, with true
Gill  maintains  that  the  choosing         my  position and, no matter what             heartfelt  repentance.    Man  is  re-
comes with the general call.  The            a  Dr.  Nicole  says,  I  believe  it  is    sponsible, as I emphasized in my
preaching of the gospel is the har-          yours.                                       book,  to  put  right  what  he  has
vesting  of  the  wheat  from  the               In  writing  what  I  said  about        done wrong.  As sinful man can-
tares.  There is not one gospel for          faith  and  repentance,  I  suppose  I       not  repent  in  this  way,  as  you
the  tares  and  another  for  the           had  the  new  Bannerism  in  mind           state, we praise God that He grants
wheat.  For Gill the call to "all" is        which is splitting churches in Brit-         His  elect  that  repentance  which
the means of choosing the "few."             ain and Europe and was address-              has become foreign to man because
The  call  of  God,  when  preached          ing this new teaching, which I un-           of his natural enmity against God.
through the Spirit, is the same call         derstand has not become an issue                 I  agree  with  you  concerning
that proves to be a savour of life           in the States yet.  This would per-          the  need  to  translate  the  great
unto  life  for  the  one  and  death        haps  explain  why  we  seem  to  be         Dutch teachers.  I could not wait
unto death for the other.  He ex-            misunderstanding each other.  Our            for  the  translations  so  I  have
plains  this  in  the  very  passage         targeted  readership  is  different          started school again at 57 to learn
from  which  you  have  taken  your          and we use common terms with a               Dutch so that I may have the bless-

442/ Standard  Bearer  /August  1,  1996


ing of reading them in their origi-               of Evangelical Truths Deduced from          command to savingly  believe  on
nal tongue.  I have started attend-               the Sacred Scriptures, vol. 2, Grand        Christ.  Oh no!  They are left as
ing the Dutch Haamstede Confer-                   Rapids:    Baker,  repr.  1978,  pp.        they were before, condemned by
ence  which  supports  fine  Re-                  122, 123).                                  the law.  The only way in which
formed gospel preaching and has                                                               their dreadful condition is aggra-
                                                                                              vated is by them not believing the
a large bookstall with those titles                 Surely Dr. Ella is familiar with
                                                                                              extra  light  and  moral  truths  put
on it which both you and I love.                the Baptists in England who claim             forth in the gospel message (Matt.
                         (Dr.) George Ella      to  be  disciples  of  John  Gill  and        11:21-24).  For their not believing
                   Mlheim, Germany             who,  accordingly,  emphatically              this,  the  preacher  becomes  to
                                                deny that the gospel calls, or com-           them a savour of death unto death
Response:                                       mands,  the  unregenerated  repro-            (II Cor. 2:16).
       Almost persuaded.                        bates to believe on Jesus Christ.               "Then  saith  He  to  the  man,
       But not quite.                               Recently,  friend  Michael                Stretch forth thine hand.  And he
       The issue can be put very sim-           Kimmitt,  editor  of  Peace  &  Truth         stretched  it  forth"  (Matt.  12:13).
                                                                                              Ah,  that's  the  gospel  command,
ply:    Did  the  Calvinistic  Baptist          (magazine of the Sovereign Grace
                                                                                              totally effective.  As Dr. Hawker
preacher John Gill teach that God               Union  in  the  United  Kingdom),             says,  "Christ's  biddings  are
in the preaching of the gospel com-             forwarded to me a letter from such            enablings."
mands  all  hearers,  including                 a  Baptist.    The  letter  vehemently                             Yours faithfully,
unregenerated reprobates, to believe            objects  to  the  explanation  of  the                           (w.s.) T.G. Bellamy
on  Jesus  Christ  with  true  (saving)         external  call  of  the  gospel  that  I
faith?                                          had given in an article in  Peace &             Mr.  Bellamy  forthrightly  de-
       If he did, he is no hyper-Cal-           Truth.    With  permission,  I  quote       nies that the gospel calls, or com-
vinist.                                         this letter:                                mands,  unregenerated  reprobates
       If he did not, he  is hyper-Cal-                                                     to believe in Jesus Christ.  The rea-
vinistic.                                           To  command  unregenerated              sons for his denial are appeals to
                                                  reprobates to savingly believe the
       Would Dr. Ella respond to the                                                        undoubted  truths  of  Calvinism:
                                                  gospel  as  proposed  by  Prof.
above question with a "yes" or a                  Engelsma ... is to command them           Christ  did  not  die  for  the  repro-
"no"?                                             to  believe  that  Christ  died  for      bates,  and  unregenerated  repro-
       I  note  that  Dr.  Ella  does  not        them,  which  He  did  not.    This,      bates  lack  all  ability  to  believe.
comment on my quotation of Gill                   therefore, is commanding them to          Mr.  Bellamy  freely  charges  that
in which Gill expressly asserts that              believe  a  lie.    This  mode  of        anyone  who  holds,  as  I  do,  that
the                                               preaching is neither law nor gos-         the  gospel  does  command  the
                                                  pel  as  neither  system  requires        unregenerated  to  believe  is  an
  external call ... of sinners in a state         men to believe a lie.  The lost have      Arminian.
  of nature and unregeneracy ... is               the father of lies to mislead them            Mr. Bellamy is wrong in his ar-
  not  a  call  ...  to  the  exercise  of        without the aid of preachers.  To
                                                  call  upon  Matthew  22:1-14  and         gument, as in his unusual charge.
  evangelical  grace,  which  they                                                          I can prove this.
  have not, and therefore can never               Acts 17:30 to support this scheme
                                                                                                But this is not my interest here.
  exercise:  nor to any spiritual vi-             is to appeal to the word of truth
                                                                                                My interest is to put the ques-
  tal acts, which they are incapable              to support a lie.  Whatever next?
  of,  being  natural  men  and  dead               The gospel is Christ's testament,       tion to Dr. Ella:  Does Mr. Bellamy,
                                                  so  called  because  it  contains  the
  in trespasses and sins.                                                                   in  fact,  fairly  represent  the  posi-
                                                  legacies  and testamentary effects        tion of John Gill on the doctrine of
                                                  Jesus  bequeathed  to  His  church
       Making  Gill's thought  unmis-                                                       the external call of the gospel?
                                                  and  people.    The  only  persons
takably plain is the statement that                                                             Did  John  Gill  agree  with  Mr.
                                                  made  rich  by  Christ's  death  are
immediately follows:                              those mentioned in this will.  To         Bellamy?
                                                  command people to believe  they               If he did, he denied the bibli-
  Yet  there  is  something  in  which            are  beneficiaries  when  they  are       cal, Reformed doctrine of the seri-
  the ministry of the word, and the               not is a pointless exercise.  Prof.       ous, external call of the gospel.
  call by it, have to do with unre-               Engelsma might just as well com-              And this is hyper-Calvinism.
  generate  sinners:    they  may  be,            mand me to believe I am rich be-                                             -- Ed.
  and should be called upon, to per-              cause  Mr.  Rockefeller  has  died
  form  the  natural  duties  of  religion;       and left a large fortune.  But, of
  to a natural faith, to give credit  to          course, unless my name is in the
  divine  revelation,  to  believe  the ex-       will I am no better  or worse  off
  ternal  report  of  the  gospel  ...  (em-      than I was before.
  phasis  added  --  DJE;  see  John                 So it is with gospel-preaching.
  Gill,  A Complete Body of Doctrinal             The  non-elect  are  not  double-
  and Practical Divinity:  or a System            damned  for  not  responding  to a

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  Ministering to the Saints                                                                   Prof. Robert Decker



                        The Elders and the
             Care of the Congregation

    Having discussed  in previous           deemed  by  Christ's  blood.    This       an individual, but is either part of
articles the gifts and qualifications       does not mean that every member            the  depraved  world  outside  of
which the elders must possess, we           of the congregation is an elect.  We       Christ,  or  part  of  the  Body  of
turn  our  attention  to  the  congre-      know  better.    But  in  the  organic     Christ.    God  graces  individual
gation  entrusted  by  God  to  the         sense the congregation represents          men, but He saves a church "cho-
care of the elders.  Two questions          the Body of Christ in a given place,       sen to everlasting life in Christ and
need  answers:  With  whom  is  the         time, and set of circumstances.            agreeing in true faith" (Heidelberg
elder dealing?  and, How must the               The  elder,  this  implies,  must      Catechism, L.D. 21).  The church,
elder care for them?                        proceed on the assumption that he          therefore, is a fellowship or com-
    The congregation is not a mere          is dealing with and caring for the         munion in which all the members
"bunch"  of  people.    Never  does         saints in Christ.  He does not ap-         share in the anointing of Christ.
Scripture present the congregation          proach the members of the congre-              This means the elder cares not
as  a  mere  crowd  of  individuals.        gation wondering whether they are          just  for  so  many  individuals,  but
Rather, the congregation is a part          elect or reprobate hypocrites.  But,       for  members  of  the  one  Body  of
of "the flock of God" (I Pet. 5:2).         at  the  same  time,  the  elder  must     Jesus Christ.  The members of that
And,  it  must  never  be  forgotten,       be aware of  the  fact that there  is      Body  of Christ all have the same
that  flock  of  God  has  been  pur-       always  a  twofold  seed  in  the          Spirit, the same calling, the same
chased by God with the blood of             church  as  she  appears  in  the          hope,  faith,  love,  Lord,  baptism,
His only begotten Son.   Precisely          world.    Someone  once  said,  "not       the same God and Father (Eph. 4:4-
for this reason the congregation is         all  are  sheep  which  have  white        5).  The members of the congrega-
very precious in the sight of God.          wool and baa."  Because this is so,        tion all belong to the "unity of the
The congregation then is composed           the elder must know as well that           Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph.
of believers and their children.  Its       his work in the congregation will          4:3).  As members of Christ's Body
members  are  those  with  whom             always have a twofold effect.  The         they  are  totally  interdependent.
God has established His covenant            elect  believer  will  be  edified  and    The members of the congregation
of  friendship  and  fellowship  in         strengthened in his faith while the        cannot exist and function in their
Christ.                                     reprobate  will  be  exposed  in  his      God-given  place  in  the  church
    This  has  serious  implications        unbelief.                                  apart  from  the  other  members  of
for  the  elders.    Because  the  con-         While the elders certainly care        the Body (I Cor. 12:12-31).
gregation consists of the precious          for individual members of the con-             Still more, the congregation is
flock  of  God  the  elders  must  be       gregation, they never care for mere        made  up  of  families.        Scripture
very careful as to how they handle          individuals.    The  individual  for       plainly teaches that God saves His
the members under their care.  The          whom the elder cares must be re-           elect in Christ, i.e., establishes His
elders must remember too that the           garded  as  part  of  the  spiritual       covenant with believers and their
congregation is one manifestation           communion  (organism)  of  the             children  (Gen.  17:7;  Acts  2:39).
of the entire flock of God chosen           Body of Christ.  Scripture is never        The elder is called to care for the
in Christ from all eternity and re-         individualistic.    Pelagianism  and       families of the family of God.
                                            its offspring, Arminianism, are in-            In  this  connection,  we  cannot
                                            dividualistic  in  their  view  of  sin    help but lament the fact that fam-
                                            and  grace.    The  Reformed  faith,       ily life is on the wane not only in
                                            based as it is upon Holy Scripture,        the world, but also in the church.
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical      is covenantal.  Neither the repro-         Our  own  Protestant  Reformed
Theology in the Protestant Reformed         bate  nor  the  elect  man  is  simply     Churches are affected as well.  Par-
Seminary.

444/ Standard  Bearer  /August  1,  1996


ents  (yes,  fathers  and  mothers)          manifest in a particular congrega-             youth, married couples, unmarried
leave for work in the morning, and           tion, therefore, the elder must care           individuals,  aged  and  younger
children leave for school at differ-         for  individual  members.    The  el-          members,  widows,  widowers,
ent  times.    Teenagers  are  busy          der must remember that the indi-               women,  and  men.    Each  of  these
working part-time jobs or involved           vidual is a sinner saved by grace              requires  care  that  meets  his/her
in athletics or other legitimate ac-         through faith, God's gift (Eph. 2:8).          needs.  The elder, for example, ob-
tivities  after  school.    There  are       Even  though  he  knows  there  are            viously  cannot  deal  with  a  child
church  activities  in  the  evenings.       hypocrites in the church, the elder            as he would with an adult mem-
In  many  instances  it  is  rare  that      assumes that he cares for a saved              ber of the church.  He cannot care
all the members of the family are            sinner.  That sinner saved in Christ           for  an  unmarried  person  as  he
able to share a meal together.  In           has  but  a  small  beginning  of  the         would a married person.
some instances parents have very             life  of  Christ.    His  life  is,  there-        How, in general, do the elders
little or no time at all for their chil-     fore, characterized by the constant            care  for  God's  people?    The  an-
dren.    The  result  is  that  there  is    battle and tension between the new             swer is by means of the Word of
little time for the entire family to         man in Christ which he must put                God.  The chief means of grace is
be together for fellowship and fam-          on and the old man of sin which                the preaching of the Word.  By this
ily devotions.                               he must put off (Eph. 4:17-32; Rom.            means the saints hear the voice of
      All this takes its toll.  There is     7:7-25).    In  his  spiritual  rule  and      the Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus
an  increase  in  marital  problems          pastoral care of the members of the            Christ, call upon His name in faith,
and even divorce in the churches.            flock of God the elder will remem-             and are saved (Rom. 10:13-15).  By
The elders of God's church and the           ber this fact.                                 the  "foolishness  of  preaching"  it
pastors must do all in their power               The  elder  will  also  bear  in           pleases God to save them that be-
to reverse these trends.  This ought         mind that within the congregation              lieve (I Cor. 1:21).
to  be  done  in  the  annual  family        there are many different individu-                 The  Word  of  God  which  is
visitation, from the pulpit, and by          als, each with his/her unique per-             publicly  preached  must  be  pri-
means of personal calls on the fam-          sonality,  character,  and  circum-            vately applied by the elders to the
ily.  A good point at which to be-           stances.    Each  of  these  members           various  needs  of  the  individual
gin is for the elders and pastors to         must be approached and cared for               members of the flock of God.
set  a  good  example  in  their  own        in  different  ways.    There  are  the            To  these  matters  in  specifics
families.                                    obvious  differences:  children,               we turn our attention in succeed-
      Within  the  family  of  God  as                                                      ing articles.   u


     Special Feature                                                                              Prof. Herman Hanko


                  Redemptive-Historical
                  Preaching & Preaching
                              Christ Crucified*

                                                                                            preaching  over  against  exem-
                                             "For we preach Christ crucified.... "          plaristic preaching.  The reference
                                                                           I Cor. 1:23      is  to  preaching  on  historical  pas-
                                                                                            sages in Scripture, whether in the
Prof.  Hanko  is  professor  of  Church          A  discussion  (one  would                 New or in the Old Testament.
History  and  New  Testament  in  the        hardly call it a controversy) is be-               Those who promote what they
Protestant Reformed Seminary.                ing carried on in at least a part of           call  redemptive-historical  preach-
*     Transcript of speech delivered at      the  Reformed  church  world  con-             ing  look  askance  at  exemplaristic
the  graduation  of  Richard  Smit  and      cerning the relative merits of what            preaching  and  claim  that  it  is  an
Cheah Fook Meng, on June 17, 1996.           is  called  redemptive-historical              illegitimate  method  in  Reformed

                                                                                            August  1,  1996/ Standard  Bearer /445


circles.  The saints whose history                   Over against these clamorings         preaching.  Preaching is a matter
is recorded in Scripture are not de-         of  the  Jews  for  a  sign  and  the         of life or death.
scribed  for  us  in  order  that  they      wicked  pursuit  of  the  Greeks  for             The  peculiarity  of  preaching
may  serve  as  examples  of  a  holy        the wisdom of philosophy, Paul in-            lies in what happens when a man
life in our own time and age.  The           sists:  We  preach  Christ  crucified.        truly  preaches.    Preaching,  in  its
history  of  these  saints  is  rather       By  this  emphatic  statement  the            essential character, does not really
given in order to reveal to us some          apostle means to  say that  his en-           belong  to  this  earth  or  to  those
aspect  of  the  history  of  redemp-        tire  life  is  caught  up  in  just  one     things which are a part of the earth
tion through Jesus Christ.                   task, namely that of preaching; and           and its natural course.  Preaching
    In my address to you who to-             the entire content of every sermon            belongs  to  what  happens  in
night reach an important milestone           which he preaches is limited to one           heaven.  Indeed, preaching really
in your path to the ministry, it is          theme, that of Christ crucified.  He          takes place in heaven.  I know that
not my purpose to enter this dis-            insists that he never preaches any-           preaching  belongs  to  the  world,
cussion and analyze the issues in-           thing else, that Christ crucified is          and  one  can  still  find  preachers
volved.  Although I intend to say            his sole subject, excluding all oth-          who preach here in our history.  I
a few things about the question a            ers.                                          know too that when the history of
bit later in the speech, I intend now                That is a bold and uncompro-          earth  is  over  and  the  history  of
to use this discussion as an occa-           mising  statement,  and  one  won-            heaven  begins  there  will  be  no
sion to direct you to a characteris-         ders how it is possible to make it            more need of preaching.  The fact
tic of Reformed preaching which,             when  the  apostle  must  have                remains  that  preaching  is  heav-
if  it  does  not  characterize  your        preached  hundreds,  if  not  thou-           enly.  And because it nevertheless
preaching, will make your preach-            sands of times.                               takes  place  in  the  world,  preach-
ing,  in  fact,  no  preaching  at  all.                       * * * *                     ing is an intrusion into this world,
That is, I intend to use the discus-                 To understand the power that          an invasion of this world by forces
sion to emphasize that all preach-           lies behind this simple assertion of          and  powers  that  belong  only  to
ing must be  Christ-centered preach-         the  apostle,  we  do  well  to  pause        heaven.  It is heavenly activity here
ing.     My  interest  in  redemptive-       for a moment or two and ask our-              on earth.  It can be rather fright-
historical preaching is incidental to        selves the question, what Scripture           ening.  But this is why some will
and illustrative of my concern that          means by "preaching."                         die to hear it, and others will mur-
you young men, about to enter the                    Preaching is, according to the        der to stop it.
service  of  the  ministry  of  the          Scriptures, a very strange activity               Preaching is something that be-
Word, preach Christ-centered ser-            that literally defies human  expla-           longs  to  heaven  for  a  number  of
mons.                                        nation.    It  is,  in  fact,  so  strange    reasons.
                 * * * *                     that  no  man  could  ever  have                  When  preaching  is  going  on,
    It  is  good  that  we  take  our        thought of it; it is an activity which        strangely enough, Christ is preach-
starting point in the words of the           could only have been invented by              ing  --  and  Christ  is  in  heaven.
apostle  Paul  in  I  Cor.  1:23:  "For      God.                                          Christ Himself is talking.  I do not
we preach Christ crucified...."                      The  unique  character  of            mean to say that a preacher is talk-
    It  must  be  remembered  that           preaching is not to be found in its           ing about Christ, or that a preacher
Paul says this out of his own ex-            merely  formal  side,  that  side  of         speaks  in  the  name  of  Christ  --
perience.  He had always made it             preaching  which  people  are  able           although all that may very well be
a  practice  to  preach  to  the  Jews       to see.  After all, a man stands in           true.  But Scripture is quite insis-
first, and he had learned that, just         front  of  a  group  of  people  and          tent on the point that when a min-
as in Jesus'  day,  the Jews always          talks  for  45  minutes.    There  is         ister  is  preaching,  Christ  Himself
required  a  sign  --  a  sign,  i.e.,        nothing so strange about that.  It            speaks.  In contrasting Himself as
which  would  prove  to  their  own          happens all the time.  But most of            the  Good  Shepherd,  to  hirelings
carnal  satisfaction  that  Jesus  was       such activity is not preaching.               and thieves, Christ claims that His
indeed the Christ.                                   That there is something unique        sheep  recognize  His  voice  in  the
    When Paul wrote the words of             about preaching is already evident,           clamor of many voices.  They rec-
this  first  chapter  of  his  letter  to    if  one  would  stop  to  think  about        ognize His voice because they hear
the Corinthians, he reminded them            it, in the fact that there have been          Him.  "My sheep hear  my voice."
that, on his first visit, he had just        throughout  the  history  of  the             No wonder nothing can stop them
come from Athens and knew first-             world  people  who  would  gladly             from seeking out preaching.
hand the insistence of the Greeks            give their lives to hear preaching.               Preaching  is  activity  that  be-
to learn wisdom -- i.e., a wisdom             And, on the other side, there have            longs to heaven because the things
according to their own philosophy,           been throughout history those who             that  belong  to  heaven  are  the
their own "love  of wisdom."                 would  commit  murder  to  stop               greater  part  of  the  content  of

446/ Standard  Bearer  /August  1,  1996


preaching  and  constitute  most  of        praise  in  song  and  prayer  Him           tion at all.  It  is not as if  history
what  a  preacher  says.    And  if  a      who dwells on high.  Such power              lies  outside  God's  purpose,  and
preacher  should  speak  of  this           can  be  found  nowhere  in  all  the        that  the  forces  of  its  currents  are
earth,  it  is  in  order  that  he  may    world.                                       to be found elsewhere than in God
point out to people that this earth                          * * * *                     Himself.  It is not as if, when God
is not very important, that indeed              Conscious  of  all  this  power          formed all things, He had decided
its  importance  lies  merely  in  the      that preaching possesses, Paul in-           that He would glorify Himself in
fact that it serves mysteriously to         sisted that the only way all these           this  present  history,  only  to  be
bring  heaven  about,  and  that            things could be true was through             foiled  and  disappointed  by
heaven  is  really  the  only  impor-       the  preaching  of  Christ  crucified.       Adam's  rebellion  and  disobedi-
tant thing.                                 How could that be?                           ence.  Christ crucified is not an al-
    So true is this that, as a matter           The  preaching  is  brought  in          ternate plan for history on which
of  fact,  preaching  has  as  its  pur-    words.  These words are the Word             God  was  forced  to  fall  back  be-
pose to get people ready to live in         of God.  God speaks within Him-              cause  of  the  surprise  of  Adam's
heaven.  Preaching is that excruci-         self  that  Word  because  the  first        wickedness which frustrated God's
atingly  painful  task  of  tearing         person  of  the  Trinity  speaks  the        original plan.  In the truest sense
people out of this world and shap-          Word  which  is,  within  the  holy          of the word, Christ crucified was
ing  and  molding  them  to  live  in       Trinity, the eternal Son.  In order          always  God's  purpose  in  all  that
heaven.                                     to reveal Himself, the triune God            He  did  from  the  moment  of  cre-
    To accomplish the task of get-          speaks that Word outside His own             ation onward.
ting people ready to live in heaven,        triune life in Jesus Christ.  "In the            God  has  freely  and  sover-
preaching  unleashes  powers  that          beginning was the Word, and the              eignly,  from  before  the  worlds
make  the  powers  of  earthquakes,         Word  was  with  God,  and  the              were created, determined to reveal
volcanic eruptions, and explosions          Word was God....  And the Word               His own glorious and perfect life
of hydrogen bombs seem to be al-            became flesh and dwelt among us,             through a Word which He speaks
most  without  significance.    The         and we beheld his glory, the glory           outside  Himself.    That  one  Word
contemplation of this truth cannot          as of the only begotten of the Fa-           which  He  speaks  is  essentially
help but frighten anyone who has            ther, full of grace and truth" (John         Christ crucified.
assumed  the  responsibility  of            1:1, 14).                                        We must not deduce from this
preaching.  Indeed, it is so terrify-           That Word became flesh to die            that the cross of Jesus Christ is the
ing that often the only knowledge           on  the  cross,  and  that  Word  is,        only thing that happened to Christ
that forces a minister to his pulpit        therefore,  the  one  Word  of  the          and which is of importance to us.
on the Lord's Day is the cry of the         cross.    It  is  the  Word  of  God  in     But  as  the  cross  is  the  heart  and
apostle: "Woe is me if I preach not         Christ,  a  Word  that  speaks  from         center of  all God's purpose, so it
the gospel."  It takes a terrible woe       heaven  about  what  God  does  in           is in the light of the cross of Cal-
to persuade him to preach.                  heaven through His own Son.                  vary  that  all  Christ's  work
    The powers that are unleashed               That  Word  is  given  to  us  in        throughout all history can be un-
through preaching Christ crucified          written form in the infallible Scrip-        derstood  and  explained.    It  is  in
are greater than the powers which           tures,  and  it  is  the  one  and  only     the Word of the cross that God re-
brought  the  worlds  with  all  that       Word of all preaching.                       veals the infinite perfections of His
they  contain  into  existence  --  as           That truth makes preaching a             own  perfect  life.    And  that  cross
our  Canons  point  out  in  the  3rd       contradiction of what we see hap-            forms the heart and focal point of
and 4th heads of doctrine, Article          pening here in this world.  Preach-          all Christ did and does and shall
12.    Because  Christ  preaches,  the      ing makes that altogether prepos-            do into all eternity.
Word of Christ, powerful, irresist-         terous claim that what you see and               In that cross is salvation -- sal-
ible, creative, life-giving, is a Word      experience in history is not really          vation  of  a  church  chosen  eter-
which  plucks  a  depraved  sinner          what is happening.  All this world           nally,  given  to  Christ,  rescued
from the brink of hell and carries          with all its history leads to hell.  It      from  sin  and  death,  brought  into
him  into  heaven;  it  transforms  a       is  not  the  important  thing.    It  is    covenant  fellowship  with  the
totally foul and useless clod of dirt       not what you should be paying at-            triune God to live with Him, world
into a beautiful piece of marble fit        tention  too,  except  only  inciden-        without  end.    That  cross  is  what
for  a  temple  of  God;  it  makes         tally.    It  is  not  the  real  thing.     history is all about -- in this life
princes and princesses in the king-         Preaching Christ crucified is real-          and  in  the  eternal  history  of  the
dom  of  heaven  out  of  adulterers,       ity.  That is history.  We walk by           new heavens and the new earth.
thieves, and robbers; it makes blas-        faith, not by sight.                                                                u
phemers of God's name into quiet                And yet preaching is not, from                             ... to be concluded.
and  joyful  folk  who  bless  and          a different viewpoint, a contradic-

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  Contending for the Faith                                                             Rev. Bernard Woudenberg



              Further Correspondence

                                            they began to look upon the  Dec-           "discoveries."
        Very shortly after hearing from     laration  as  something  they  could            What Rev. Woudenberg writes
Dr.  DeJong  of  the  Clarion  maga-        blame, and they have continued to           further  in  his  article,  others have
zine (which letter appeared in the          do so through the years.                    responded  to  sufficiently.    I  only
April 1 issue of the  SB),  there ap-           In  any  case,  the  letter  which      have one question for him.  At the
peared a letter in the Christian Re-        appeared read as follows:                   conclusion of his Oct. 23 letter he
newal  reflecting on the same mat-                                                      writes:  "Within  the  sphere  of  the
ters,  namely,  the  problems  be-             The Liberated, and the PRs               covenant, as without, the means of
tween  the  Protestant  Reformed                Having  read  Rev.  Wouden-             grace  have  their  dividing  effect."
and Liberated Churches.  And ac-            berg's letter concerning the Liber-         What  do  we  make  of  this?    Are
cordingly my answer reflected on            ated view of the Covenant and the           we  to  believe  that  believers  and
much of the same material we con-           breakdown of the relationship be-           unbelievers are both in the "sphere
sidered  in recent  articles; but my        tween  the  Protestant  Reformed            of the Covenant"?  And what ex-
feeling is that it warrants reprint-        Churches  and  the  Liberated               actly  is  meant  by  the  "sphere  of
ing.                                        Churches  (CR.   Oct.  23,  1995),  I'd     the covenant"?  I cannot find such
        Many times through the years        like to make a few remarks.                 a construction in Scripture.  What
efforts  have  been  made  to  make             We are led to believe that the          I  do  find  in  God's  Word  is  that
the  Declaration of Principles appear       breakdown  was  caused  by  the             God sent Jesus Christ in order that
to have been something novel and            "discovery"  that  Prof.  Holwerda          everyone who believes should not
new and a kind of travesty of Re-           was  privately  advising  the  immi-        perish but have eternal life.
formed church polity which justi-           grants to ignore Hoeksema's cov-                              Hermon Bosscher
fied the Liberated in breaking off          enant  views  and  work  their  own                                 Everson, WA
all contact with us.   In fact it was       views into the PR Churches.  This                                         - - - - - -
nothing more than what had been             is  an  interesting  "discovery"  it            To this I replied as follows:
there  all  the  time,  and  of  which      seems to me, for we learn that this
they  had  been  told  repeatedly,  a       discovery  led  not  only  to  the          Dear Mr. VanDyk,
simple affirmation that we did not          breakdown of our relationship, but              In  your  February  12  issue  of
accept the theory of common grace           more seriously to a "major disrup-          Christian Renewal there appeared
either  in  the  form  of  the  Three       tion within the PR churches."               a letter from Mr. Hermon Bosscher
Points of common grace, or of the               Leaving  alone  what  this  may         addressing  two  questions  to  me,
Heynsian  theory  of  the  covenant         imply  concerning  the  late  Rev.          which, if I may, I would like to try
to which they held.  It would seem          Holwerda, it seems that history is          to answer.
that, with the adopting of the  Dec-        rewritten here.  For as a rule rela-            To  begin  with,  however,  if  I
laration,  they  finally  realized  we      tionships  between  churches  de-           have  it  right,  Mr.  Bosscher  may
meant it, and that, without a thor-         pend not on "discoveries," but on           well  have  been  one  of  the  Liber-
oughgoing  discussion  in  which            what is agreed on or disagreed on,          ated friends with whom I used to
they proved that what we believed           and  is  so  stated  publicly.    And       stop and visit back in my Lynden,
was contrary to Scripture, we were          what has been open and publicly             Washington days, as I tried to gain
not about to change.  And, not be-          documented?    The  adoption  and           a grasp of  what had gone wrong
ing able or willing to provide that,        subsequent binding of the "Decla-           between  the  Protestant  Reformed
                                            ration of Principles" has been the          and Liberated churches, and what
                                            cause  of  the  breakdown  between          our real differences were.  If so, I
                                            us, as well as the disruption within        certainly  would  like  to  give  him
                                            the PR Churches.  We do well to             my greetings again, and thank him
Rev.  Woudenberg  is  pastor  of  the       give  proper  attention  as  to  what       once more for those many cups of
Protestant  Reformed  Church  of            we  agree  or  disagree  on,  and  we       coffee  and  good  discussions  we
Kalamazoo,  Michigan.                       should  not  rely  upon  so-called          had.

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    In any case, he addresses basi-         heard to have repudiated common                We were quite amazed, there-
cally two matters.                          grace,  Hoeksema  was  perplexed           fore,  as  were  they,  when  a  few
    First  of  all,  he  questions  the     and invited him here again to dis-         months  later  this  same  group  re-
"discovery"  of  the  letter  of  Prof.     cuss  these  things  with  us,  which      ceived  that  letter  from  Prof.  B.
Holwerda, which I don't think was           he did in the fall of 1947.                Holwerda  in  which  he  said  that
a "discovery" either, since anyone              Shortly  before  this  visit  took     they had met with two of our pas-
familiar  with  that  history  would        place, however, Hoeksema was in-           tors who were visiting in the Neth-
know  the  part  it  played.    But,  to    capacitated  by  a  massive  stroke,       erlands  (both  of  whom  had  been
fill it all in, let me try to summa-        and was able to take only a small          on  the  committee  which  had  de-
rize this history as briefly as I can.      part in the visit, during which Dr.        nied Chatham's request) and had
    We  should  recognize,  as  a           Schilder  toured  nearly  all  of  our     been told by them that Hoeksema's
starter, that the PRC originated --          churches  and  met  all  of  our  pas-     view of election was his own and
as most know  -- out  of the CRC             tors.  At the end, therefore, he ex-       not that of the PRC, and that, not
when  we  were  put  out  because           pressed  two  striking  conclusions:       only was  there  room for the Lib-
Hoeksema  and  his  followers  de-          first,  that  the  Liberated  covenant     erated  covenant  view  in  our
nied that common  grace is in ac-           view was not the same as that of           churches, but many of our pastors
cord with  Scripture.  This doctri-         Heyns: and secondly, that the Lib-         were  inclined  to  that  view  them-
nal  position  became  in  effect  the      erated  view  of  the  covenant  dif-      selves.      Accordingly  Holwerda's
first  formative  decision  of  our         fered essentially from ours only in        advice  was  that  (while,  if
churches,  and  thus,  according  to        terminology and emphasis.  Thus            Hoeksema's view were "binding"
Article  31  of  the  Church  Order,        he assured us that he would work           in our churches, he would advise
"settled  and  binding"  among  us,         toward establishing a sister-church        them never to join us) on the basis
as are all properly made ecclesias-         relationship between our denomi-           of  what  these  men  had  said,  the
tical  decisions.    In  fact,  without     nations,  and  would  direct  those        Liberated  churches  could  work
such a unifying commitment of one           emigrating  from  Holland  to  join        with us -- by which he evidently
kind  or  another  there  can  be  no       our  churches  when  they  arrived         meant,  not  Hoeksema,  but  those
real  denomination.      (What  this        here.    By  some,  including  Hoek-       who were sympathetic to the Lib-
means,  in  effect,  is  that  anyone       sema,  these  first  two  points  any-     erated view. And on that basis the
joining  a  PR  church  is  not  to  go     way  were  received  with  a  good         immigrants  should  join  the  PR
about propagating common grace              deal of polite skepticism, but gen-        churches and work at getting Lib-
within our churches without first           erally we agreed to go along with          erated material into them.  The re-
having proved decisively through            him, and particularly to work with         sult of this was, as one might ex-
proper ecclesiastical channels that         any  immigrants  that  came  to  us,       pect,  confusion.      Had  these  two
what we maintain -- and thus the             which we did.                              men  actually  said  in  Holland  the
right  of  our  existence  --  is  con-          It  was  less  than  a  year  after    opposite of what they shortly be-
trary  to  the  Word  of  God.    And       this, however, that a letter was re-       fore had insisted upon with these
should  he  do  so,  of  course,  we        ceived from a Liberated pastor to          Chatham people, or was Holwerda
should all go, hat in hand, back to         the effect that he was opposed to          misrepresenting  them,  or  was
the church from which we came.)             these moves, because he -- and ac-          there  actually  a  group  of  men  in
    As  it  was,  the  PRC  contact         cording to him all of the Liberated        the PRC planning, in complete dis-
with the Liberated had its roots in         clergy  --  were  committed  to  the        regard of the church order, to re-
the  visit  of  Dr.  Klaas  Schilder  to    Heynsian covenant view; to which           verse the original commitment of
America in 1939, during which he            Hoeksema replied that, if any im-          the PRC? -- the latter of which it
met  and  made  friends  with               migrants  were  really  determined         would seem history has shown to
Herman Hoeksema, with the result            to  follow  Heyns,  they  would  do        be closest to the truth.
that all through the war the PRC            better to join the CRC where there             And then came another blow.
people were kept posted on every            was plenty of room for that view.          Prof. C. Veenhof published a bro-
bit  of  news  that  came  through          In  turn,  when  during  the  follow-      chure, Appl!, which was so full of
about  Dr.  Schilder,  including  his       ing winter a group of immigrants           common grace that it was an em-
being deposed because of his cov-           with  whom  we  were  working  in          barrassment  even  to  those  PRC
enant  view.    For  him  our  people       Chatham  asked  to  organize  as  a        men most inclined to the Liberated
held great sympathy, even though            PRC while maintaining the Liber-           churches.
his covenant view was essentially           ated (or Heynsian) view of the cov-            The result of this all was that
that  of  the  CRC  professor,  W.          enant, they were told that was im-         at  that  point  all  real  cooperation
Heyns,  whose  views  lay  at  the          possible since it would be contrary        between our churches ended, or to
roots of the Three Points of 1924.          to the principles upon which our           use Schilder's figure,  de kous  was
When, therefore, Dr. Schilder was           churches were founded.                     af.  Wherever our men went they

                                                                                       August  1,  1996/ Standard  Bearer /449


were  met  by  the  question  as  to        real practical relevance, for profit-        not;  and  the  question  remains  as
whether  the  PRC  had  an  estab-          able  interaction  between  us  had          to  what  baptism  meant  to  those
lished covenant view or not; and,           ceased,  and  maybe  had  never  re-         who  are.    At  that  point  we  must
whatever answer was given, it was           ally  begun.    Its  real  significance      be careful to heed Paul's reminder,
not believed.  In turn, by the fol-         was  to  be  found  in  our  own             especially       in     Romans      and
lowing spring (prior to the draw-           churches as it served to bring out           Galatians, that no one should pre-
ing up of the Declaration of Prin-          those who through this all had be-           sume that, just because he has re-
ciples)  Rev.  Hettinga  was  going         come  dissatisfied,  and  using  this        ceived  the  sign  of  the  covenant
about  among  the  immigrants  (in-         also as an occasion left us, not to          (whether circumcision or baptism),
cluding those who belonged to our           go to the Liberated, but back into           he is thereby a child of Abraham
churches) seeking to organize them          the CRC which once they "out of              and an heir of the covenant bless-
into  separate  Liberated  congrega-        conviction" had left.                        ings.  The sign does not bring grace
tions, which, within the context of             It was a sad history; and one            to  each  one  who  receives  it,  but
the Liberated view of the church,           wonders at times whether it could            rather points all to the gospel truth
could  only  be  a  de  facto  affirma-     not  have  been  done  better,  but          that  only,  Galatians  3:9,  "they
tion  that  the  PRC  was  no  longer       fears  even  more  whether  under            which be of faith are blessed with
seen to be the true church in this          similar  circumstance  we  would             faithful Abraham."  And, being Re-
country.                                    have  the  conviction  or  discretion        formed, we cannot but remember
    It is true, of course, that, once       to do as well as then.                       that such faith does not come from
the  Declaration  was  written,  the            And,  concerning  Mr.  Boss-             an  individual  himself,  but  is
Liberated  pounced  on  it  as  some        cher's  next  problem,  we  can  be          wrought by God (Canons III,IV:10-
kind  of  a  wonderful  justification       brief.  He objects to our use of the         12).
for breaking their contact with the         word "sphere" regarding the cov-                     But enough. I only wish that I
PRC, even though it said nothing            enant  because  it  is  not  found  in       could  stop  and  talk  these  things
other than had always been true,            the  Bible;  and  that  is  OK.    Still,    through  over  a  good  cup  of  cof-
and  of  which  they  had  been  re-        the fact is that there are those who         fee;  but  for  the  time  being  this
minded  often.    Neither  was  it  of      are  baptized  and  those  who  are          must suffice.   u

  In His Fear                                                                                      Rev. Arie denHartog



 He that Sitteth in the Heavens
                               Shall Laugh (2)

    What a scene is painted for us          together.  They are enthusiastically         rejection  of  the  infallible  truth  of
in Psalm 2!  Millions and millions          united in their evil purpose against         Scripture, stands opposed to God.
of  wicked  men  are  arrayed  in  a        the  Lord.    They  take  counsel  to-       False doctrine, heresy, theological
tumult against the Lord of heaven           gether against Him.  The wisdom              debate,  seminary  training,  all  are
and earth.  This is a description of        and intelligence of men, the power,          arrayed against God.  The men of
the history of the world since the          the  riches  they  possess,  their  po-      this  world  oppose  the  Word  of
time of the Fall.  The whole world          litical  schemes,  their  military           God.    They  blaspheme  the  name
of fallen men is arrayed against the        might,  all  are  used  for  the  great      of  God.    They  refuse  to  submit
Lord  and  against  His  anointed.          battle  against  he  Lord.    In  home       themselves to His holy command-
The nations of the earth are joined         and business, in society, by politi-         ments.  In all their lives they are
                                            cal unity, through its lust for en-          rebels against God.  They vow to
                                            tertainment, by the propaganda of            break asunder the bonds of God's
                                            the mass media, the whole wicked             law and cast their cords away.  The
Rev.  denHartog  is  pastor  of  Hope       world  is  involved  in  a  campaign         world of wicked men will not have
Protestant  Reformed  Church  in            against  God.    Even  the  church,          God to rule over them.  The world
Redlands, California.                       with its modernist theology and its          of  fallen  men  hate  God.    This  is

450/ Standard  Bearer  /August  1,  1996


evident on every hand.  Under the         grace  of  God  this  truth  has  been       the  truth  of  God's  decree  is  not
leadership  of  the  Evil  One  they      maintained  in  our  Protestant  Re-         revealed to us, it is wrong for the
seek to establish a rebellious king-      formed  Churches.    We  are  hated          church  to  preach  about  it.    She
dom of man on earth and to over-          in the ecclesiastical world because          must keep silent about something
throw the kingdom of God.                 we preach so often about the de-             she knows nothing about.  The fact
    The vain opposition of wicked         cree  of  God,  sometimes  even  by          is  that  God  has  declared  His  de-
men is directed specifically against      those  who  profess  themselves  to          cree concerning Christ in the Scrip-
the Lord's anointed, the Christ of        be Reformed and to be defenders              tures, and He will have His church
God.  Already during the old dis-         of  the  truths  of  sovereign  grace.       preach the gospel of His sovereign
pensation there were repeated at-         We boldly preach without compro-             decree.  God is glorified when the
tempts by wicked men to prevent           mise  the  truth  of  God's  decree.         truth  of  His  decree  is  boldly  de-
the birth of the Christ of God.  Fi-      God is absolutely sovereign in His           clared.  Thousands of years before
nally, when God sent His own Son          eternal decrees.  Nothing can alter          the coming of Christ into the world
into the world, the world despised        the decrees of God.  Nothing can             God, through David, declared His
and  rejected  Him.    They  hated        prevent  God  from  realizing  His           decree  concerning  Christ.    The
Him  with  a  passion.    The  whole      decree.  According to Psalm 2 God            truth  of  God's  unchangeable  and
world  was  united  against  Him.         is undisturbed in His sovereignty            sovereign  decree  in  Christ  makes
The  leaders  of  the  Jews,  Pontius     by all of the raging of the wicked           prophecy possible.  There could be
Pilate,  the  Roman  soldiers,  the       world against His decree concern-            no prophesying of what God will
multitudes of people in Jerusalem         ing  Christ.    This  is  wonderful!         do in the  world and  in history if
were arrayed against Christ to per-       God  says  in  the  midst  of  all  the      God  did  not  make  His  decree
secute  Him.    They  condemned           tumult of the wicked world against           known.  The prophets of old could
Him to death.  They screamed for          Him:  "Yet have I set my king upon           boldly declare what God would do
His crucifixion.  They nailed Him         my  holy  hill  of  Zion.    I  will  de-    in  the  fullness  of  time.    There  is
to  the  accursed  cross  of  Calvary.    clare the decree; the Lord hath said         no doubt about the fact that God
Even while Jesus writhed in pain          unto me, Thou art my Son; this day           will realize His decree concerning
and  agony  on  the  cross,  wicked       have I begotten thee."                       Christ.  We as God's people who
men  joined  together  to  torment            All things are fixed from eter-          live in the midst of the tumult of
Him by their evil taunts and blas-        nity  in  the  sovereign  decree  of         this ungodly world and are perse-
phemies.  According to the inter-         God.    God's  purpose  in  Christ  is       cuted  by  the  wicked  world  need
pretation of the apostle of the Lord      absolutely foremost and central to           to hear about the comforting truth
recorded in Acts 4, all of this was       His decree.  God's decree concern-           of  God's  decree.    The  early  New
the fulfillment of the prophecy of        ing  Christ  is  His  central  purpose       Testament church, as it was begin-
Psalm 2.                                  in history.  Everything that takes           ning to experience the fierce per-
    But in the midst of all the tu-       place  in  history  must  serve  the         secution of the enemies of God and
mult of wicked men against Him,           purpose  of  the  decree  of  God  in        of  Christ,  found  their  comfort  in
God remains absolutely sovereign.         Christ.  God will realize every de-          Psalm 2.
"Calm He sits enthroned on high."         tail  of  His  decree  concerning                From eternity God has decreed
God is full of holy wrath against         Christ,  no  matter  what  wicked            that Christ His Son should be the
the wicked.   He is preparing  His        men may do.                                  King  of  Zion.    He  is  the  Lord's
final judgment for them.  But He              The  absolute  sovereignty  of           anointed for that purpose.  Zion is
is  not  disturbed  in  His  absolute     God  in  His  decree  concerning             the  throne  of  God's  kingdom.    It
sovereignty.  He looks down from          Christ is demonstrated in that God           was  typically  represented  in
His  throne  in  the  heavens  and        openly declares His decree.  God             Jerusalem,  the  capital  city  of  the
laughs at all the wicked purposes         does not keep His decree a secret.           nation of  Israel in  the  Old  Testa-
of men against Him.  Not all this         He makes it known.  The Lord had             ment.    David's  throne,  set  up  on
vast array of evil men, not all their     David, the author of Psalm 2, de-            Zion, was a type of the sovereign
purposes against God through the          clare  the  truth  of  God's  decree.        throne of God and His Christ.  The
history of this world, can frustrate      The  truth  of  God's  decree  is  de-       throne of Christ will stand at the
His  purpose  or  move  Him  from         clared  throughout  the  Scriptures.         center  of  the  new  heavens  and
His throne in the heavens.                God makes His decree known for               earth  in  glory.    It  will  never  be
    God  is  sovereign  in  His  eter-    the comfort of His people and the            overthrown.  God's decree is that
nal  decree  concerning  Christ.    If    glory  of  His  own  name.    Oppo-          His  Son  should  sit  on  the  throne
there  is  one  truth  of  Scripture      nents  to  preaching  about  the  de-        forever and ever.
against  which  wicked  men  espe-        cree of God will often say that the              Of  greatest significance is the
cially make a tumult it is the truth      truth  of  God's  decree  belongs  to        fact that Christ sits on His throne
of God's sovereign decree.  By the        the secret things of God.  Because           by God's eternal decree.  Christ is

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not  made  king  by  men  in  time.             selves against the Lord's anointed.         over the wicked world.  This is re-
God did not consult men regard-                     According to Psalm 2 God set            alized  most  fearfully  and  abso-
ing whom they would have to rule                His  Son  upon  the  throne  of  Zion       lutely  in  the  history  of  the  cruci-
over them.  Christ did not become               for a very fearful purpose.  Christ         fixion  of  Christ.    The  Jewish
king by popular vote.  Fact is, the             is set on the throne of Zion to de-         Sanhedrin  condemned  Jesus  to
whole world showed itself as not                stroy the entire host of those who          death in a court where the gross-
wanting  Christ  to  be  king  over             are arrayed against God.  Accord-           est miscarriage of justice the world
them.  Yet God, according to His                ing  to  His  decree  God  will  give       has  ever  known  took  place.
eternal  decree,  triumphantly  de-             the  heathen  to  Christ  for  His  in-     Pontius Pilate condemned Jesus to
clared that His anointed would be               heritance, and the uttermost parts          be  crucified  though  he  had  care-
the King of Zion.  Not even as far              of  the  earth  for  His  possession.       fully examined Jesus and declared
as  individual  men  are  concerned             The  entire  universe  will  become         over  and  over  that  he  could  find
did Christ become king first only               the sovereign domain of the Lord's          no fault in Him.  The Roman sol-
by man's choice.  This is the fool-             anointed.  Christ will rule over all        diers  mocked  Jesus  in  their  base
ish teaching of so many Arminians               the  heathen  and  ungodly  nations         hatred  of  the  Holy  Son  of  God.
in  the  church-world  today.    Ac-            of  the  world  with  a  rod  of  iron.     The multitudes with a loud voice
cording  to  their  teaching,  Christ           He will dash them in pieces like a          demanded that Jesus be crucified.
only  desires  to  be  king.                         potter's vessel.  The reference        Indeed  the  whole  world  was  ar-
Christ  wants  to  be  king                             here  is  not  to  the  rule  of    rayed  against  Christ  to  crucify
                                         The
over  all  men,  but  He  is                             God's grace in the sphere          Him.  The words of Psalm 2 were
                                   Arminian
powerless  to  effect  His                               of  His  kingdom  among            fulfilled.  But the Word of God in
                                     heresy
rule over anyone that re-                                 His  saints.    Christ  will      Acts  4  tells  us  that  all  this  was
                                    presents
jects  Him.    Christ  begs                               rule  over  His  own,  over       done  in  order  that  these  wicked
                                    a weak
and pleads with men to                                    the blessed saints of God         men  might  do  "whatsoever  thy
                                and powerless
make  Him  the  Lord  of                                  who  are  His  elect,  with       (God's) hand and thy counsel de-
                                   God who
their life.  But God's de-                                the  scepter  of  His  grace      termined before to be done."
                                   needs not
cree concerning Christ is                                and Holy Spirit.  Psalm 2              After God's decree concerning
                                  to be feared
frustrated  because  men                                speaks  of  the  Lord's  rule       the  cross  of  Christ  was  fulfilled,
                                     at all.
everywhere  will  not  ac-                             over the wicked nations of           God  raised  Him  from  the  dead.
knowledge Christ to be their                          the  earth  who  will  not  ac-       Christ was exalted to God's right
king.  Christ can only become king              knowledge  Him  as  King  and  as           hand.    Christ  was  enthroned  in
if He is accepted by men, only if               God.  Christ will force them  into          Zion.    Christ  was  set  upon  His
men by their own free will let Him              submission  and  cause  them  to            throne in the highest heaven.  He
come  into  their  hearts.    Nothing           serve  His  purpose  even  contrary         was  made  the  Lord  of  lords  and
could be further from the truth of              to  their  own  will.    He  will  show     the  King  of  kings.    All  this  was
Psalm 2 and the rest of Scripture               the utter vanity of all their oppo-         done to fulfill God's decree.  God
than  this  false  teaching.    The             sition  against  God.    He  will con-      gave  to  Christ  all  power  and  au-
Arminian heresy presents a weak                 quer them completely and destroy            thority  in  heaven  and  earth.    By
and powerless God who needs not                 them utterly.  This is a fearful de-        this  almighty  power  and  author-
to be feared at all.  He is wholly              scription of the dealings of Christ         ity  He  will  subdue  all  His  and
dependent on man.  The decree of                with  all  those  who  oppose  Him          God's enemies.  He will make His
God is made of none effect accord-              and rebel against God.  The words           enemies His footstool.  We believe
ing to this false doctrine.  But how            "break  them  with  a  rod  of  iron"       according  to  the  Scriptures  that
different is the truth of Scripture,            and  "dash  them  to  pieces  like  a       even now  Christ is reigning with
how  gloriously  and  fearfully  and            potter's  vessel"  are  not  descrip-       a rod of iron among the nations to
wonderfully  different.    Christ               tions of the wonderful saving ways          fulfill His purpose and bring about
reigns  by  God's  decree.    Accord-           of Christ with His own.  They are           the  final  realization  of  His  king-
ing to this decree God gives Christ             terrible descriptions of the destruc-       dom.    Though  the  world  refuses
the power and authority to reign.               tions  and  judgments  that  Christ         to  acknowledge  God  and  to  sub-
The elect of God will, by the sov-              pours  upon  the  heathen  and  un-         mit  themselves  to  His  holy  law,
ereign and irresistible operation of            godly nations of the world.  Christ         God  is  realizing  His  decree  in
the Spirit of Christ in their hearts,           will  destroy  His  enemies  in  the        Christ.    None  who  exalts  himself
acknowledge Christ as King.  The                righteous  judgment  and  holy              against  the  Lord  and  His  Christ
wicked  in  the  end  will  be  forced          wrath of God against them.  Psalm           will ever be able to stand.  Already
to  realize  that  Christ  is  King  by         2  pictures  the  terrible  final  judg-    now we see and hear of the fear-
God's  decree.    They  will  be  de-           ment of Christ upon the wicked.             ful judgments of King Jesus in the
stroyed  because  they  set  them-                  God  is  absolutely  sovereign          earth;  wars  and  rumors  of  wars,

452/ Standard  Bearer  /August  1,  1996


famines, earthquakes, social strife,        gent  and  fearful  admonition!            joy in being a citizen of the king-
revolution  among  the  nations  of         There is no one among all the chil-        dom  of  Christ,  unspeakable  joy,
the  world,  shocking  apostasy  in         dren of men who of himself would           the great joy of salvation.  But this
the church.  These are not merely           take heed to this admonition.  All         joy must be mixed with trembling
"natural  phenomena."    We  know           men are hopelessly rebels against          that  comes  from  the  true  knowl-
that all these things and more take         God  and  against  Christ  and  will       edge of our fearful King.  We are
place  according  to  the  dreadful         all be destroyed by His rod of iron.       called to kiss the Son.  This was a
rule of Christ's rod of iron.               The  only  exceptions  to  this  are       practice in ancient times.  Subjects
    The  final  judgment  on  this          those whom God has chosen to be            of  a  kingdom  would  sometimes
world will also take place accord-          His  own  and  those  whom  Christ         fall down at the feet of their king
ing  to  God's  sovereign  decree  in       has touched with the scepter of His        and kiss even his feet.  Kissing the
Christ.    Christ  will  come  to  dash     grace in their hearts.  Only by the        Son of God means that we deeply
the wicked nations to pieces like a         mighty  and  irresistible  power  of       humble  ourselves  at  His  feet.    It
potter's vessel.  The nations of the        the grace of Christ will any man,          means that we love Him and wor-
world will be utterly destroyed by          be he a mighty and glorious king           ship  and  adore  Him  as  our  God
Christ, the mighty Lord and King.           or a lowly servant here on earth,          and King.
This  is  certainly  a  thing  most         ever  acknowledge  Christ  as  God             Psalm 2 exhorts us to flee from
dreadful.  We truly understand the          and  King.    Our  rebellious  hearts      the  wrath  of  God  lest  we  be  de-
fearfulness of all of this, however,        must  be  broken  and  we  must  be        stroyed  by  His  fearful,  sovereign
only if we realize that we are by           brought trembling with fear before         power.  We must do that by flee-
nature part of the rebellious hordes        the throne of the sovereign Christ.        ing  to  the  cross  of  Christ  Jesus.
of  the  wicked  that  are  arrayed             Christ brings us to repentance         Only  there  can  we  find  a  shelter
against  God  and  His  Christ.   We        and submission through the power           and  refuge  from  the  fearful  con-
too deserve to be destroyed in the          of  His  Word,  the  Word  as  it  is      suming wrath of God that will fall
sure  and  final  judgment  of  His         found in Psalm 2.  We must con-            upon  the  wicked.    God's  Word
"rod of iron."                              sciously know the fearful Word of          calls  us  to forsake  the  rebellious-
    The last verses of Psalm 2 set          Psalm 2 and submit ourselves unto          ness  of  our  wicked  hearts.    Bro-
forth what should be the attitude           the Sovereign Christ, the King by          ken and humbled by the Spirit of
of all men to the fearful prophecy          God's decree.  While the whole re-         Christ we acknowledge Him with
of this Psalm.  "Be wise now there-         bellious  world  will  be  destroyed       fear and trembling as our God and
fore, O ye kings:  be instructed, ye        by Christ's rod of anger, only by          King.
judges of the earth.  Serve the Lord        sovereign grace will His people be             Those who with humility and
with  fear,  and  rejoice  with  trem-      spared.  There is greatest wisdom          fear  acknowledge  Christ  as  King
bling.  Kiss the Son, lest he be an-        in taking  heed to the admonition          own  the  wonderful  words  with
gry, and ye perish from the way,            at the end of Psalm 2.  It is utter        which Psalm 2 is closed.  "Blessed
when  his  wrath  is  kindled  but  a       folly to ignore it.  Highest wisdom        are all they that put their trust in
little.    Blessed  are  they  that  put    is to serve the Lord with fear and         him."   u
their trust in  him."   What  an ur-        rejoice  with  trembling.    There  is

  Book Review                               down by Raguenier when he had              on  Galatians  since  1574.    For  all
                                            become thoroughly experienced in           practical  purposes,  therefore,  the
                                            his  task"  (Calvin's  Preaching,          sermons  are  now  available  to  us
Sermons  on  Galatians,  by  John           Westminster, 1992, p. 71).                 for the first time.
Calvin.    Audubon,  New  Jersey:               Arthur Golding translated the              Although  this  edition  is  a  re-
Old Paths Publications, 1995.  xxx          sermons into English in 1574.  It is       print  of  the  old  Golding  transla-
+ 923pp.  $30 (cloth).  [Reviewed           this translation that Old Paths has        tion, complete and unabridged, it
by the editor.]                             republished.  About Golding as a           is not a facsimile.  The text of the
                                            translator  of  Calvin,  Parker  ob-       sermons  has  been  newly  typeset
    To the library of every student         serves  that  he  "stands  out  in  the    and  edited  to  give  contemporary
of John Calvin may now be added             quality  and  bulk  of  his  work.  ...    spelling and forms of letters.  This
Calvin's 46 sermons on Galatians.           Golding writes a strong, energetic         is, of course, more expensive than
Calvin preached this series in 1557,        prose, keeping close enough to the         merely  reproducing  the  old  text.
1558.    These  sermons  were  taken        original  to  do  justice  to  Calvin's    But it makes the book far more at-
down  by  the  competent  scribe,           own  style"  (Calvin's  Preaching,         tractive and useful to the modern
Denis Raguenier.  T. H. L. Parker           pp. 72, 73).                               reader.  The old English letters and
remarks  that  the  Galatians  ser-             The  Old  Paths  edition  is  the      spelling are offputting to even the
mons  were  among  those  "taken            first English edition of the sermons       motivated reader.

                                                                                       August  1,  1996/ Standard  Bearer /453


    In  addition,  publisher  Ernie         preaching on Galatians 6:14, "But             Lord  Jesus  Christ.    For  we  see
Springer has had antiquated words           God  forbid  that  I  should  glory,          many men burst with pride, and
and phrases explained in modern             save in the cross of our Lord Jesus           they wot  (know) not why.  There
terms in brackets following the ar-         Christ...."                                   is  nothing  but  wind  and  smoke
chaic words.  Where the 22nd ser-                                                         in all the things which they sur-
                                                                                          mise of themselves.  Howbeit the
mon  on  Galatians  3:21-25  origi-           Seeing  then  that  our  Lord  Jesus        very  cause  why  they  seek  not
nally had Calvin saying, "God was             Christ is he out of whom we must            Jesus  Christ,  is  for  want  of  due
fain for a time to weeld them like            draw all things that we have need           examination  of  themselves:    and
little babes,"  the  new  edition  has        of;  now  we  see  why  Saint  Paul         such are the Hypocrites, and the
"God was fain (willing)  for a time           saith  he  will  not  seek  any  glory      Counterfeiters, and those that are
                                              but in the Cross of our Lord Jesus
to  weeld  (handle)  them  like  little                                                   puffed up with overweening (high
                                              Christ.  And why?  For inasmuch
babes."                                                                                   opinion)   of  their  own  works.
                                              as he suffered so painful and bit-
    Calvin's sermons on Galatians                                                         Therefore  (as  I  have  touched  al-
                                              ter  a  death,  yea  and  was  set
are distinct from his commentary                                                          ready) it behooveth us to look to
                                              against God's justice for us,  and          our  own  state,  and  to  see  how
on  the  same  book.    The  sermons          took all our cursedness upon him:           wretched we be till our Lord Jesus
are  explanation  of  the  Scriptures         therefore was he given unto us to           Christ pity us.  That is the way to
for the congregation at worship in            be our wisdom, righteousness, ho-           prepare  us  to  come  unto  him.
the form of proclamation.  The ex-            liness, strength, and all that ever         And that shall serve for one point
planation in the sermons is fuller            we want.  But first of all we must          (pp. 902, 903).
                                              learn what we be, to the intent to
and  more  careful.    There  is  also        beat down all our own glorying,
lively and pointed application.               and to settle ourselves upon our              At $30, this book is a bargain.
    A  taste  of  it  --  hear  Calvin                                                                                               u


  News From Our Churches                                                                      Mr. Benjamin Wigger

Evangelism Activities                       entitled,  "In  Everything  Pray";              The congregation of the Hull,
    The Evangelism Committee of             "The  Lord's  Prayer";  and  "Pray-         IA PRC recently voted to install a
the Southwest PRC in Grandville,            ing Fervently."                             new speaker system in their sanc-
MI is sponsoring a summer semi-                                                         tuary.
nar on "The Writing, Compilation,           Congregational Activities                       Members of the South Holland,
and  Translation  of  the  Bible."                  Summer visitors, or visitors in     IL  PRC  were  encouraged  to  re-
Plans call for Rev. R. Cammenga,            any  other  season  of  the  year,          serve Sunday night, June 16, for a
pastor  at  Southwest,  to  trace  the      please take note.  Our Bethel PRC           combined  choir  program  and
very  interesting  history  of  Bible       in Itasca, IL has changed the start-        singspiration.
translation down to the King James          ing time for their evening service
Version  of  1661.    These  seminar        to 5 P.M.                                   Young People's Activities
meetings  are  scheduled  for  the                  At  a  special  congregational          Writing  about  South  Holland
four  Wednesday  evenings  in  Au-          meeting  held  on  June  3,  the  con-      reminds  me  that  this  year's  56th
gust,  and  are  to  conclude  with  a      gregation  of  the  Peace  PRC  in          annual  Young  People's  Conven-
visit  to  the  Scriptorium  in  Grand      Lynwood, IL approved a proposal             tion, hosted by the Young People
Haven, MI.                                  to  build  a  parsonage  on  their          of the South Holland congregation,
    In its on-going evangelism ef-          church  property.    We  also  note         is  fast  approaching.    And  by  the
fort in the Houston, TX area, our           that  our  Peace  congregation  has         time you read this it might be in
Trinity PRC in Houston presented            joined  the  growing  list  of  our         full  swing,  or  perhaps  even  con-
three messages from God's Word              churches which have a church li-            cluded.
on  the  subject  of  prayer.    These      brary for the reading enjoyment of              A word of thanks and appre-
messages were broadcast through             the congregation.                           ciation should be extended to this
the Reformed Witness Hour, with                     The  Consistory  of  the  Grace     year's  host  congregation  for  all
Rev. J. Mahtani, pastor at Trinity,         PRC  in  Standale,  MI  decided  to         their  work.    It  is  no  easy  task  to
serving  as  radio  pastor  for  three      finish  their  family  visitation  this     prepare  a  week-long  convention
weeks in June.  His messages were           June  rather  than  carry  it  over  to     that will include about 400 of our
                                            this fall.  They felt this would give       denomination's  young  people.
                                            their new pastor, Rev. M. Dick, an          This  year's  theme  is  "Godly
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Prot-         opportunity to meet the entire con-         Friendships,"  based  on  Proverbs
estant  Reformed    Church    of            gregation at the start of his minis-        18:24.  When these young  people
Hudsonville, Michigan.                      try.                                        converge on the Chicago area for

454/ Standard  Bearer  /August  1,  1996


a week, we as churches hope they                  halls where so many children and                        will serve under the oversight and
will  use  that  occasion  to  develop            young people have received their                        guidance  of  the  respective
godly friendships and have Chris-                 Christian education over the years.                     consistories and pastors.
tian fellowship and some good fun.                A short program and cornerstone                              Rev.       and      Mrs.       Rodney
But, above all, we desire that God                opening were also planned for that                      Miersma left New Zealand and our
will  bless  this  convention  for  the           morning.                                                sister PR church there on June 26.
spiritual profit of the young people                   The  PR  Secondary  Education                      Plans  called  for  them  to  spend  a
and for His glory.                                Promotional Committee, hoping to                        couple  of  weeks  with  Rev.
     Of  course,  no  sooner  is  our             start secondary education in Iowa,                      Miersma's parents in Doon, IA and
convention  concluded,  than  an-                 invited Rev. C. Haak, pastor of the                     then  move  to  Lacombe,  AB,
other  of  our  congregations  starts             Bethel PRC in Itasca, IL, to present                    Canada  and  our  Immanuel  PRC
with plans for next year's conven-                a  lecture  in  the  Hull,  IA  PRC  on                 there the week of July 14.
tion.  We can give you some infor-                June  25.    All  members  of  the                           In light of Rev. Woudenberg's
mation  about  that.    Next  year's              Edgerton, MN, Doon and Hull, IA                         retirement,  the  Kalamazoo,  MI
convention  will  be  hosted  by  the             PRCs were  encouraged to attend.                        PRC has formed a trio of the Revs.
Young  People's  Societies  of  the               Rev.  Haak  spoke  on  the  topic  of                   Bruinsma, denHartog, and Key.
Hudsonville, MI PRC, and it will                  Reformed Secondary Education.                                Rev. G. VanBaren declined the
be  held  at  Camp  Miniwanca  in                                                                         call he received from the Doon, IA
New Era, Michigan, located on the                 Minister Activities                                     PRC.
beautiful shores of Lake Michigan,                     From  our  seminary  we  learn                          Rev. R. Dykstra, pastor of the
August 18-22, 1997.                               that three seminarians who are en-                      Hope PRC in Walker, MI, has ac-
                                                  tering  their  fourth  year  have  be-                  cepted the call to serve as profes-
School Activities                                 gun their six-month internships the                     sor in our Seminary.
     Our  Adams  Street  Christian                first of July.  James Laning is serv-
School  in  Grand  Rapids,  MI  in-               ing  in  the  Southwest  PRC  in                                      Food  for  Thought
vited  all  who  were  interested  to             Grandville,  MI;  Daniel  Kleyn  is                          "Pleasure,  profit,  and  prefer-
an  Open  House  on  June  8  at  the             serving  in  the  South  Holland,  IL                   ment are the worldling's trinity."
old  Adams  School.    Visitors  had              PRC; and Martin VanderWal is at                                                   -- J. Trapp   u
one  last  opportunity  to  walk  the             the First PRC in Holland, MI.  Each

                                                   ANNOUNCEMENTS

     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                               WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
     On July 21, 1996, our parents                     On August 24, 1996,                                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
and grandparents,                                      MR. and MRS. JOHN FEENSTRA                              With gratitude to God, our par-
 MR. and MRS. WILLIAM SMIT,                       will  celebrate  their  40th  wedding  anniver-         ents,
celebrated their 35th wedding an-                 sary.    We,  their  children  and  grandchil-               PROF. and MRS. ROBERT
niversary.                                        dren, express our thankfulness to the Lord                               DECKER,
     We are thankful to the Lord for              for  the  many  blessings  He  has  given  to           will  celebrate  their  35th  wedding
the years that He has given to our                them  and  to  us  through  them.    "Except            anniversary  on  August  18,  1996,
parents.   It is our prayer  that the             the  Lord  build  the  house,  they  labor  in          the Lord willing.  We, their children
Lord  may  continue  to  bless  them              vain that build it" (Psalm 127:1a).                     and grandchildren, are thankful for
                                                  Y
in their life together.                                Ken and Gleny Feenstra                             the blessings of a Christ-centered
     "Trust in the Lord with all thine                   Tena, Stacy, John, Anna, Abigail                 marriage and home, and we praise
                                                  Y
heart; and lean not unto thine own                     Peter and Linda Smit                               our heavenly Father for their con-
understanding.  In all thy ways ac-                      William, David, Lanae                            tinuing  care  and  concern  for  our
                                                  Y
knowledge him, and he shall direct                     Tom and Cindy Ditmar                               family.  "For the Lord is good; his
                                                  Y
thy paths" (Proverbs 3:5, 6).                          Lori Feenstra                                      mercy is everlasting; and his truth
Y    Peter and Linda Smit                                                         Redlands, California    endureth to all generations" (Psalm
       William, David, and Lanae                                    NOTICE                                100:5).
Y    Fred and Cathy Hanko                                 to COLLEGE STUDENTS                             Y    Doug and Deb Altena
       Mandy, Kyle, and Brent                          Once  again  we  would  like  to  send  a          Y    Dan and Denise Decker
Y    Brian and Dorothy                            copy  of  the  SB  to  those  who  are  away                     Blair, Paige
                           VanKoughnett           from home while attending college.  Please              Y    Tim and Kathy Decker
Y    Richard and Tricia Smit                      let  the  business  office  know  your  college         Y    Jon and Sarah Decker
Y    William Smit                                 address  as  soon  as  possible  so  we  can                                          Jenison, Michigan
                                                  begin sending your copies directly to you.
                            Yarrow, BC, Canada

                                                                                                          August  1,  1996/ Standard  Bearer /455


    THE
STANDARD
   BEARER                                                                                                    PERIODICAL
                                                                                                             Postage Paid at
   P.O. Box 603                                                                                              Grandville, Michigan
  Grandville, MI  49468-0603




 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                        RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                  NOTICE!!!
    The Council and the congrega-                 The Consistory and congrega-               Classis West of the Protestant
tion of Randolph PRC express their            tion  of  the  Kalamazoo  Protestant       Reformed Churches will meet at the
Christian sympathy to Mr. and Mrs.            Reformed  Church  express  their           Randolph PRC in Randolph, WI, on
Berwyn (Gerry) Huizenga and fam-              Christian  sympathy  to  Mrs.              Wednesday, September 4, 1996 at
ily in the death of Gerry's mother,           Jacqueline VanDyk and her family           8:30 a.m., God willing.  All mate-
   MRS. FRANCIS VELDHUIS.                     in the death of her husband,               rial  for  the  classical  agenda  is  to
    May  Gerry  and  the  family  be                MR. JOHN VAN DYK.                    be in the hands of the Stated Clerk
comforted with the words of I Cor-                May they find comfort in know-         thirty days before the Classis con-
inthians 2:9:  "But as it is written,         ing that Jehovah "lifteth us from the      venes.    All  delegates  in  need  of
Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,             gates of death" (Psalm 9:13).              lodging or  transportation from the
neither hath entered into the heart                   Pastor Bernard Woudenberg,         airport  should  notify  the  Clerk  of
of man, the things which God hath                                           President    Randolph's consistory.
prepared for them that love him."                            Mr. Jeffrey Steenholdt,          Rev. Steven Key, Stated Clerk
  Pastor Steven R. Key, President                                    Vice-President
       Mr. Don DeVries, Asst. Clerk
                                                                                                        NOTICE
              NOTICE!!                                      NOTICE!                          The  Theological  School  Com-
    Classis East will meet in regu-               The  Board  of  the  Reformed          mittee is pleased to announce that
lar  session  on  Wednesday,  Sep-            Heritage Christian School Associa-         Rev. Russell Dykstra has accepted
tember 4, 1996 at the Faith Prot-             tion of Kalamazoo, Michigan is in-         the call from the Synod of 1996 to
estant Reformed Church, Jenison,              viting  applicants  for  a  full-time      be  professor  of  theology  in  our
MI.  Material for this session must           teacher/administrator  position            seminary.  We are grateful to God
be in the hands of the Stated Clerk           which will begin in August of 1996.        for His leading in this matter and
no later than August 5, 1996.                 Our school, now completing its 2nd         now look forward to Rev. Dykstra's
       Jon J. Huisken, Stated Clerk           year, has two full-time teachers and       installation in the near future.  We
                                              one  half-time  with  30  students  in     covet  your  prayers  for  the  semi-
                                              grades K-8.  This position involves        nary  and  for  Rev.  Dykstra  as  he
 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                       teaching  the  upper  elementary           prepares  himself  to  take  up  his
    The Consistory and congrega-              (grades 5-8) class.  Successful ap-        work as professor in our theologi-
tion  of  the  Kalamazoo  Protestant          plicants must be committed to the          cal school
Reformed Church extends Christian             Reformed  faith,  biblical  inerrancy,          Theological School Committee
sympathy to Mr. Adrian Alphenaar,             6-day creation, male headship, the                   Jon J. Huisken, Secretary
in  the  death  of  his  wife.    Also  to    antithesis, and covenantal theology.
his  children,  grandchildren,  great         Teacher  certification  and  experi-
grandchildren,  and  great-great              ence  are  strong  pluses.    Salary:
grandchildren in the death of their           low to mid 20's; health ins.  Those
mother and grandmother,                       interested only in teaching and not
 MRS. JOHANNA ALPHENAAR.                      in administrative responsibilities are
    May the family be comforted by            also encouraged  to apply (salary:
God's  grace  through  our  Savior,           $14 to $22K w/ health ins.).  Appli-
Jesus Christ:  "For I know that my            cants should send a letter and re-
redeemer liveth, and that he shall            sume to:
stand  at  the  latter  day  upon  the                      Tom Nagel
earth" (Job 19:25).                                       18230 Michigan
      Pastor Bernard Woudenberg,                   Three Rivers, MI  49093
                                President           Phone:  (616) 279-7373
       Mr. Jeffrey Steenholdt, Vice-                 FAX:  (616) 279-6207
                                President        E-mail:  DAKloost@aol.com                         Rev. Russ Dykstra

456/ Standard  Bearer  /August  1,  1996


