                              The
                    Standard
A Reformed          Bearer
Semi-Monthly
Magazine


                                                     In This Issue:

                    Meditation -- Rev. Cornelius Hanko
                          Enoch Walked With God ................................................................. 194

                    Editorial -- Prof. David J. Engelsma
                          Preaching in Worship:
                          Voice of God, Voice of Christ (2) .................................................. 196
                    Letters........................................................................................................ 198

                    Taking Heed to the Doctrine -- Rev. Steven R. Key
                          Christ, the Anointed of God ........................................................... 199

                    All Around Us -- Rev. Gise J. VanBaren ............................................... 201

                    Day of Shadows -- Homer C. Hoeksema
                          The Revelation of the Wonder of Grace in Paradise ................. 204

                    Search the Scriptures -- Rev. Mitchell C. Dick
                          To Believe or Not To Believe ......................................................... 207

                    Contending for the Faith -- Rev. Bernard J. Woudenberg
                          A Brief Declaration of Principles .................................................. 209

                    Go Ye Into All the World -- Rev. Jason L. Kortering
                          Mission Enthusiasm, A Self-Analysis .......................................... 212

                    News From Our Churches -- Mr. Benjamin Wigger .............................. 215





Vol. 74, No. 9
February 1, 1998


   Meditation                                                                                                                         Rev. Cornelius Hanko


                             Enoch Walked With God

                                           And Enoch walked with God:  and he was not, for God took him.
                                                                                                                                      Genesis 5:24.

                                                                  sinner he was incapable of any good                        and Enoch gripped firmly that strong
                                                                  and inclined to all evil, just as you and                  hand with his puny little hand.  Strength
Enoch  walked with God.  And
      he was not.                                                 I.  He also needed the daily forgiveness                   flowed forth from that mighty arm of the
       This is likely the shortest, yet the                       of his sins, justification, and cleansing                  Most High into the very being of His
most notable biography that was ever                              from sin.                                                  child, His friend.  It was in God's com-
written.  What better eulogy could be                                    Yet he was a child of God, and by                   passion and love that He had reached
offered?                                                          the grace of God the chief characteristic                  out to Enoch, had drawn him to Him,
       Enoch was not.  After he had de-                           of his life was that he lived in intimate                  pressed him to His heart in loving kind-
parted, his family likely thought back                            fellowship with the living God, reflect-                   ness, and taught him to love Him and
on his life and said, My husband, or my                           ing the blessed covenant life within the                   be devoted to Him.
father, or my grandfather lived in close                          divine Trinity.  And God informs us of                              There was that bond of perfection,
fellowship with God.  It may even be                              this.                                                      the bond of love between God as sover-
that his friends and acquaintances said                                                                                      eign Friend and Enoch as His friend-ser-
                                                                               333    333    333
of him that he lived a godly life.  His                                                                                      vant.  God had spread His love into His
enemies may have admitted the same.                                                                                          servant's heart, whereby he grew in true
       But what is far more important is                                 Enoch walked with God.                              knowledge of God, was devoted to Him,
the fact that God says this of His ser-                                  I like to think of Enoch as being like              and served Him in love.  They were
vant Enoch.  And not only does God say                            a small lad, looking up with admiration                    drawn to each other in covenant fellow-
this of him, He has also recorded it in the                       to his strong, manly daddy.  No father                     ship.
infallible Scriptures for our benefit and                         can quite compare with his father.                                  Enoch felt dependent, very depen-
instruction.                                                      Enoch looked to God with worshipful                        dent, upon his Father.  Actually he
       We rarely think of Enoch as living                         admiration, for He is God and He alone,                    would never know how dependent he re-
a normal life like ours.  But he also had                         exalted far above all that is creature, the                ally was.  For this was more than a hu-
been conceived and born in sin.  As a                             Most High, the Holy One of His people,                     man father-son relationship.  This was
                                                                  the God of all grace, ever blessed, ever                   the  eternal  God,  the  Creator  and
                                                                  adorable!  The longer he walked with                       Sustainer of the whole universe, giving
                                                                  God the better he knew and adored Him                      life and breath and being to one of His
Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in the                          as God above all, blessed forever!                         many creatures.  This was the heavenly
Protestant Reformed Churches.                                            God had taken Enoch's hand in His,                  Father who had chosen him individu-


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194/Standard Bearer/February 1, 1998


ally, even as He chooses each of His         tor of God as His dear child (Eph. 5:1).          characterized the world of his day with
children in sovereign love and wisdom                                                          the same term.  Enoch spoke of the com-
to have a place among the assembly of                    333    333    333                     ing of the Lord with ten thousands of
the elect forever.                                                                             His saints to punish ungodly sinners for
    In the providence of God Enoch had                Enoch lived in an evil time, not too     their ungodly deeds and hard speeches.
his own place and would serve his own        different from the time in which we now           This sounds very much like the prom-
purpose here on earth, even as every         live.                                             ise and the expectation that we cherish
one of us.  Therefore he could say with               He is referred to as "the seventh af-    in our day.
the psalmist:  "I am continually with        ter Adam."  In his day Lamech and his                    This prophecy of "the seventh after
thee:  thou hast holden me by my right       sons lived upon the earth, by whom we             Adam" was also fulfilled in the destruc-
hand.  Thou shalt guide me with thy          learn to know something of the city that          tion of the first world by the flood,
counsel, and afterward receive me to         Cain built and the life of the world of           which is a prefiguration of the day of
glory" (Ps. 73:23, 24).                      that evil day.                                    the Lord that "will come as a thief in
    Never would he venture forth                      Lamech was an adulterer who de-          the night?  in the which the heavens
alone.  When dangers threatened, Enoch       spised the holy bond of marriage by tak-          shall pass away with a great noise, and
pressed a bit closer to God, took a still    ing to himself two wives.  Judging by             the element shall melt with fervent
firmer grip of His hand, and rested as-      their names, Adah "the pretty one," and           heat., the earth and the works that are
sured that nothing could harm him.           Zillah "the lustful one," we obtain an ac-        therein shall be burned up....  Neverthe-
With the psalmist he could sing:  "When      curate picture of the carnality of the            less we, according to his promise, look
troubles round me swell, when fears          world of that day.                                for a new heaven and a new earth,
and dangers throng, securely I will                   Lamech, who boasts of his prowess        wherein dwelleth righteousness" (II Pet.
dwell in His pavilion strong.  Within the    and his cold-blooded murders, and his             3:10, 13).
covert of His tent He hides me till the      wicked sons were prime examples of
storm is spent."                             their time.  Jabal brought his fortunes                     333    333    333
    This son of Jared and father of          to the city.  Jubal supplied the music
Methuselah was certain that not a hair       that gave expression to their sinful lusts               And he was not, for God took him.
could fall from his head apart from his      and debauchery.  Tubal-cain introduced                   His enemies sought Enoch, but God
Father's will.  He knew that even this       tools and weapons of metal.                       embraced him, saying, "You shall not
"fear and danger," these swelling                     This was but representative of the       touch my child."  The enemy had grown
troubles, were sent upon him from the        thousands, and perhaps millions, who              weary of his constant ranting and rav-
hand of his Almighty Provider to teach       lived in that day.  The world grew and            ing, his non-sensical talk of the judg-
him to rely more fully upon Him.             prospered.  The church was small and              ment of a living God.  While their hearts
    It was not as if they walked to-         despised, persecuted by a world that              condemned them, they silenced the
gether in silence.  God spoke as a Fa-       hated and tried to destroy her.  True,            voice of conscience by striving to get rid
ther to His son by His indwelling Spirit.    Adam was still living, and so were his            of him.  They would kill him with a
Since Enoch was a prophet, God also          spiritual descendants, but they were              sword and thereby give warning to any
likely spoke directly to him, revealing      like pilgrims and strangers, living their         others, so that every voice of God would
the things still to come.  And there was     antithetical life as a testimony against          be silenced!
also a communion of saints in some           the world round about them.                              But Enoch was not, for God trans-
form of public worship (Gen. 4:26b).                  By the grace of God and with the         lated him.  In a moment of time he was
    Even as God has opened a channel         courage that his nearness to God gave             snatched from this earth and entered
of communication for us to the throne        him, Enoch boldly testified against that          into glory, even without tasting the an-
of grace, more wonderful and more ef-        whole wicked world, saying:  "The Lord            guish of death.
ficient than the modern e-mail, so also      cometh with ten thousands of his saints                  The fact that God took up the cause
Enoch could pour out his soul in his         to execute judgment upon all that are             of His friend was just another testimony
great need, in worship and in thanks-        ungodly among them of all their un-               to the world of wickedness that they
giving, assured that he was heard and        godly deeds, which they have ungodly              would certainly go down in defeat be-
would surely be blessed.  God was for        committed,  and  of  all  their  hard             fore the face of the one, only, true God.
him, nothing could be against him.           speeches which ungodly sinners have               This was for the saints of that day, and
    It may be said of this son of the        spoken against him" (Jude 14, 15).                is likewise also for us, an encourage-
Most High God that he walked, talked,                 We cannot help but pause here a          ment and incentive to be faithful unto
and even acted like his Father.  He was      moment to reflect on the fact that there          death, for the crown of righteousness
eager to know Him ever more inti-            is a marked similarity between Enoch's            awaits us.  More than conquerors are
mately.  He had in his heart the testi-      time and ours.  The New Testament                 we!
mony that he pleased Him (Heb. 11:6).        Scriptures speak of the wicked of the                    And  for  the  saints  who  enter
He strove for a more holy life, like         last days as being characterized by un-           heaven with tear-stained faces this is
Father's.  In one word, he was an imita-     godliness.  This pre-diluvian prophet             also significant.  Enoch is there in his

                                                                                                      February 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/195


glorified body, along with Moses.  Elijah     They walked and walked.  And as they                           God,
is there, having been taken up in a           walked they came ever closer to heaven.
chariot of fire with horses of fire in a      One day God said to Enoch:  "Why don't
whirlwind.  Besides them, there are           you come to live with me?"  So he did.                 Voice of
those whose bodies were raised from           u
their graves at the time of Christ's death
on the cross, and who appeared in             Preaching                                                   Christ
Jerusalem on the day of Christ's resur-
rection.  They all share glorified bodies
with Christ as an assurance to the souls                             in                                            (2)
in heaven that they also will soon be like
Him in complete perfection.                        Worship: As demonstrated in the pre-
                                                                                                           vious editorial, there is in
        333    333    333                                                                                  Protestantism today a brutal
                                                                                                 attack on preaching in the worship of
    A story is told of a little girl who                  Voice of                               the church.  Although vehement, the
came home from Sunday School and                                                                 definition that someone has given of
was asked by her mother about the les-                                                           preaching as "a monstrous monologue
son.  She answered that it was about                                                             by a moron to mutes" captures the mood
Enoch, a man who walked with God.

  Editorial

of the movement for liturgical renewal.
    Within Reformed and Presbyterian churches also, there is a loss of faith that the preaching of the gospel is the voice of
Christ Himself.  Thus, in their worship these churches break with the worship advocated and practiced by the Reformation. For
the Reformation honored preaching as the voice of God in Jesus Christ.

The Reformation's Regard
for Preaching
    This was Luther's estimation of preaching.  In a sermon on John 20:19-31, he remarked:  "Every honest pastor's and
preacher's mouth is Christ's mouth."  On another occasion, he declared, "I am certain that when I enter the pulpit to preach or


                                              ceived  explicit  formulation  in                  liturgics, William Heyns called the min-
                                              Bullinger's Second Helvetic Confession             ister de mond Gods ("the mouth of God").
stand at the lectern to read, it is not my    of 1566:                                           In a rich and profound treatment of
word, but my tongue is the pen of a                                                              preaching as the primary means of
                                                   The Preaching of the Word of God Is
ready writer."                                                                                   grace in the church, explaining Q. and
                                                   the Word of God.  Wherefore when this
    Calvin agreed.  In a sermon, signifi-                                                        A. 65 of the Heidelberg Catechism,
                                                   Word of God is now preached in the
cantly on Ephesians 4:11, 12 (Christ                                                             Herman  Hoeksema  described  a
                                                   church by preachers lawfully called,
"gave ... some, pastors and teachers ..."),                                                          preacher as one who does not merely
                                                   we believe that the very Word of God
Calvin taught his congregation:                                                                  speak concerning Christ, "but one
                                                   is proclaimed, and received by the            through whom it pleases Christ Him-
                                                   faithful; and that neither any other
  If our Lord gives us this blessing of            Word of God is to be invented nor is          self to speak, to cause His own voice to
  His gospel being preached to us, we              to be expected from heaven:  and that         be heard by His people" (Triple Knowl-
  have a sure and infallible mark that             now the Word itself which is preached         edge, vol. 2, pp. 409, 410).
  He is near us and procures our salva-            is to be regarded, not the minister that          James Hastings Nichols put it well
  tion, and that He calls us to Him, as if         preaches; for even if he be evil and a        when he described the Reformation's
  He had His mouth open and we saw                 sinner, nevertheless the Word of God          view of preaching, and, therefore, of the
  Him there in person.                             remains still true and good (Chapter          preacher, this way:  "the preacher ... is ...
                                                   I).                                           God's instrument in a terrifyingly di-
Therefore, for Calvin the pulpit was "the                                                        rect way" (Corporate Worship in the Re-
throne of God."                                           This high view of preaching contin-    formed Tradition, Westminster Press,
    This conception of preaching, com-        ued in the history of the Reformed                 1968, p. 31).
mon to all the Reformers, is found            churches until recently.  In his work on               In the life-and-death battle for bib-
throughout the Reformed creeds.  It re-

196/Standard Bearer/February 1, 1998


lical, Reformed worship today, all that         ye have not so learned Christ;  If so be           Two things qualify the preaching
we are called to do, if only we can, is to      that ye have heard him, and have been         that is this living voice of the risen
defend and preserve our Reformation             taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus."     Christ, the personal Word of God.  First,
and Reformed heritage.  But then we             Writing to the Ephesians who had not          it is preaching that has as its content,
must ourselves see, and be convinced,           heard about Christ and been converted         and, therefore, preaching that is faith-
that this is the biblical view of preach-       to Him until some 20 years after He as-       ful to, the message of the apostles, that
ing.  The Reformation's conception of           cended into heaven, the apostle says,         is, Holy Scripture.  The Second Helvetic
preaching was not cultural, was not an          matter-of-factly, as something both they      Confession gives this qualification
accident of history, although this is how       and he knew to be the case, that those        when it says, "when this Word of God is
those who are reviving and renewing             Ephesian Christians heard Christ and were     now preached," etc.  The reference is to
worship in our day like to present the          taught by Christ.  The only, and obvious,     Scripture, which the Second Helvetic
matter.  Fact is, the Reformers knew all        explanation is that the preaching of the      has just confessed to be "the true Word
about drama and music in worship.               gospel by the apostle and his co-work-        of God."
They had firsthand knowledge of the             ers was the voice of Jesus Christ.  The            Second, only that preaching is the
most impressive ceremony and ritual in          preaching of the Word was for the             voice of God which is done by a man
the  history  of  Christendom:    the           Ephesians vox Christi.                        who has been given to the church as a
sacerdotalism and ritual of the Roman               That this "terrifyingly direct" in-       pastor and teacher by the ascended
Catholic Church.  All of this they re-          strumentality of the minister as the          Christ, that is, one who is called to this
jected.  Instead, they demanded preach-         mouthpiece of Christ applies, and is in-      labor by Christ, one who is in office.
ing.  The reason for their rejection of cer-    tended by the Holy Spirit to apply, to        The Second Helvetic Confession indi-
emony and their insistence on preach-           preachers, and not only to apostles, is       cates this qualification when it says,
ing was the testimony of Holy Scripture         evident in two ways.  First, the preced-      "when  this  Word  of  God  is  now
that preaching is the voice of God.             ing context mentions the office of pas-       preached in the church by preachers law-
                                                tor and teacher with those of apostle,        fully called," etc.
Scripture's Regard for Preaching                prophet, and evangelist (v. 11).  The of-          Preaching as the voice of Christ is
    For the Reformers, this testimony           fice of pastor and teacher is the only        necessarily connected with, and depen-
was, first of all, the teaching of the Bible    permanent office in the church, to carry      dent upon, preaching's being the exer-
everywhere that everything depends              on the edifying of the body of Christ         cise of office, and not merely the exercise
upon the Word of God, that is, upon the         that was begun by the apostolic office.       of gifts.  The assault on preaching today
living voice of God speaking peace to           The hearing of Christ and the being           begins with the rejection of office.  Mod-
His people.  We live by every Word that         taught by Christ that once took place         ern Reformed church members and con-
proceeds from God's mouth (Deut. 8:3).          through the office of the apostle now         temporary synods first disparage and
The sheep of Jesus Christ hear (present         takes place through the office of pastor      then deny positions of authority in the
tense!) His voice, and only thus do they        and teacher.                                  congregations.  Usually they do this in
follow Him (John 10:27).  From the be-              Second,  it  is  the  teaching  of        a pious manner, as though they would
ginning of the history of redemption,           Ephesians 4:20, 21 that hearing Christ        exalt "service."  The implication is that
God has spoken, and now in the end of           and being taught by Christ are neces-         authority and service in the church are
the ages He does not shut His mouth, to         sary if we are to learn Christ in the sav-    mutually exclusive.  A man with au-
try some other methods, but has spo-            ing manner described in verses 17-19          thority to bring the Word of God would
ken--and continues to speak--by His Son,          and in verses 22-24, namely, not walk-        be a tyrant, lording it over the cowed
Jesus the Christ, our chief prophet and         ing as other Gentiles, but putting off the    members.  Whatever the approach, the
teacher (Heb. 1:1, 2; Heid. Cat., Ques-         old man and putting on the new man.           churches repudiate office.  This is the
tions 19 and 31).                               Salvation requires hearing Christ Him-        end of preaching.
    The Reformers had their specific            self!  Salvation requires being taught by          It is also the muzzling of the voice
texts:  I Thessalonians 2:13 ("when ye          Christ Himself!  The voice of God in          of Christ in those churches.  Fundamen-
received the word of God which ye               Christ, and only the voice of God in          tal to the entire ministry of the Son of
heard of us, ye received it not as the          Christ, calls the things that are not as      God in human flesh is office.  He may
word of men, but as it is in truth, the         though they were and brings the light         glorify God in the world, redeem the
word of God"); Rom. 10:14 ("how shall           of spiritual life out of the darkness of      church, fulfill the covenant, and estab-
they believe in him whom they have not          our natural, total depravity!  This voice     lish the kingdom of God, not simply be-
heard?" Greek text); John 20:21-23              sounds in every age, to the world's end,      cause He is gifted but because He is or-
("whose soever sins ye remit, they are          through the preaching of the gospel by        dained and qualified by God as God's
remitted unto them"); Luke 10:16 ("he           the pastors and teachers whom the as-         authoritative Servant.  He is the Mes-
that heareth you heareth me").                  cended Christ gives to His church.            siah.  He has been called of God.
    Clear and powerful as these pas-                                                               Still today, when He functions by
sages are, none is more clear and com-          Fundamental Qualifications                    means of men, particularly as prophet
pelling than Ephesians 4:20, 21:  "But          of True Preaching                             and teacher of the church, he calls and

                                                                                                    February 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/197


sends these men, so that His labor               Supper is easily documented.                      ment in repudiating the position that
through them is official.  Other than of-               Now, to get rid of this great pile of      the sacraments are empty signs.  On the
ficially, Christ will not work.  Other                (Romish, RC) ceremonies, the Supper          contrary, the sacraments, and now spe-
than officially, He will not speak.   u               could have been administered most be-        cifically the Lord's Supper, are means
                            (to be cont.)--DJE         comingly if it were set before the           of grace.  Because of Christ's purpose
                                                      church very often, and at least once a       in the Lord's Supper and the benefits of
According to Rev. Cammenga's week (Institutes IV, xvii. p. 43).                                    the Supper for the believer, the sacra-
      informative article on communion           Calvin goes on in the same passage to             ment ought to be administered fre-
(SB, Nov. 15, 1997), John Calvin sug-            object to the practice being advocated            quently.
gested having communion once every               by some that the sacrament be adminis-
week.  In our churches we have it once           tered only once a year or infrequently.                ...it (the Lord's Supper, RC) was or-
every three or four months.  That's no           Instead he calls for a return to what he               dained to be frequently used among
small difference.  Do you know what              considers the apostolic model so that "...               all Christians in order that they might
Calvin's reasons were for wanting com-           no meeting of the church should take                   frequently  return  in  memory  to
munion so often?  He was a lover of God          place without the Word, prayers, par-                  Christ's Passion, by such remembrance
                                                                                                        to sustain and strengthen their faith,
and a dedicated student of His Word,             taking of the Supper, and almsgiving"                  and urge themselves to sing thanks-
so I am interested in what he had to say         (Institutes IV, xvii, p. 44).                          giving to God and to proclaim his
and would respect it.                                   The reason for Calvin's desire for              goodness... (Institutes IV, xvii, p. 44).
       Randy Vaalburg, Byron Center, MI          frequent administrations of the Lord's
                                                 Supper is simply his high view of the             In a "Short Treatise on the Lord's Sup-
Response:                                        sacrament.  Although rejecting the                per" Calvin writes:
    Calvin's desire for frequent--even            Romish position that the sacraments
weekly--administrations of the Lord's             confer grace, Calvin was equally vehe-                 However, if we duly consider the end
                                                                                                        which our Lord has in view, we shall
  Letters

  perceive that the use should be more                since also it was so observed in the         it is unknown to most of my Arminian
  frequent than many make it:  for the                ancient Church until the devil over-         friends, as it was to me.  And to those
  more infirmity presses, the more nec-               turned everything, setting up the mass       who say they did "know" it, I've seen
  essary is it frequently to have recourse            in its place, to celebrate it so seldom      an attitude that says it "doesn't matter"
  to what may and will serve to confirm               is a fault requiring correction.  For the    enough to press it.  This is grievous.
  our faith, and advance us in purity of              present, however, we have decided
  life; and, therefore, the practice of all                                                               Christmas and all its hoopla can be
                                                      and ordered that it should be admin-
  well ordered churches should be to cel-                                                          used as an opportunity to present the
                                                      istered four times a year, namely, at
  ebrate the Supper frequently, so far as             Christmas, Easter, Whitsun, and on the       gospel of God's particular grace to ears
  the capacity of the people will admit               first Sunday of September in the au-         that might be in a listening mode, by
  (Calvin's Tracts, Vol. II, p. 179).                 tumn (The Register of the Company of         God's grace.
                                                      Pastors of Geneva in the Time of Calvin,            Please keep on shining the light of
Although in favor of frequent adminis-                p. 44).                                      God's grace on every aspect of our
trations of the sacrament, Calvin recog-                                                           Lord's life.  We need to hear the gospel
nized that there was no express com-                    Thanks for your question--a good            all the time.
mand in Scripture regarding frequency.           one.  And thanks also for reading the                               Pat Buysse, Gettysburg, PA
The frequency of administration must             rubric.                                           s      On Whose Side
be determined by the eldership, taking                                  --Rev. Ron Cammenga         is Billy Graham?
into consideration the importance of the
sacrament as well as "... the capacity of          s      An Editorial                               In the December 15 issue of the
                                                                                                        Standard Bearer is an interesting ar-
the people...."  Even Calvin was ready to          in the Christmas Cards                            ticle on the "Different Paths of Salva-
concede a monthly, and even a quarterly                                                            tion."  The contents remind of an old
                                                 Your article, "The Birth of Jesus:
administration of the Lord's Supper lest                Particular Grace" (Standard Bearer,        saying, "If the fox preaches passion,
frequency of administration lead to              Dec. 15, 1997), is a much needed, clear,          farmer, look after your geese."
thoughtless participation.  Thus Calvin          and important message for all who                        I suggest to read Revelation 12:17.
could put his imprimatur on the rule es-         name the name of Christ.                          The text speaks of a woman, command-
tablished for the church of Geneva in                   I hope, God willing, next Christ-          ments of God, testimonies of Christ, and
the "Ecclesiastical Ordinances" of 1541.         mas, to include a copy of it in my Christ-        a remnant.  The woman represents the
                                                 mas cards.  I have discovered, since my-          church of the Old and New Testament.
    Since the supper was instituted by           self hearing the true gospel of God's             The law and testimonies happen to be
  our Lord for our frequent use, and             particular grace for the first time, that         the only way of salvation through Christ

198/Standard Bearer/February 1, 1998


our Lord.  Now, Mr. Graham has dis-           be prophets, priests, and kings unto            that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the
covered a second way of salvation,            God.                                            living God, Jesus answered and said
namely, "there are people that have                  The only possibility for that is that    unto him, "Blessed art thou, Simon
never seen the Bible, never heard of          God  ordains  and  sends  His  own              Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not re-
Jesus, but believe in God."  By implica-      Officebearer to reconcile us unto Him-          vealed it unto thee, but my Father which
tion, they are part of the remnant.           self.  That Officebearer of God is Christ.      is in heaven.  And I say also unto thee,
    How grateful we ought to be for all       And that Christ of God is JESUS, Jesus          That thou art Peter, and upon this rock
these globe-trotting missionaries.  Per-      for us, Jesus in us, and Jesus through          I will build my church; and the gates of
haps, it may leave us wondering on            us.                                             hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt.
which side is Mr. Graham.                            We now turn to Scripture and con-        16:16-18).
              Bart VanderWal, Ripon, CA       sider the name Christ from the view-                To say "I believe in Christ" implies
       Christ,                                point of its significance for us, for our       not only that I believe there is a Christ,
                                              salvation.                                      but that I believe in the Christ of God
                                                     Our  Heidelberg  Catechism  in           for me.  And more:  I believe that I par-
              the                             Lord's Day 12 nicely summarizes                 take of His anointing!
                                              Scripture's teaching concerning this                The question Jesus asked of His dis-
                                              name of our Savior, when it tells us that       ciples comes also to you and to me to-
   Anointed the name Christ signifies that Jesus is day:  "Whom say ye that I am?"
                                              our chief Prophet, who reveals to us the
                                              secret counsel and will of God concern-         The Anointed of God
       of God                                 ing our redemption.  Furthermore, the               The name "Christ," which in He-
                                              name Christ signifies that Jesus is our         brew  is  "Messiah,"  means  "the
                                              High Priest, who by the one sacrifice of        Anointed."
                                              His body has redeemed us and makes                  We  have  seen  that  Jesus,  or
In I Peter 2:9, the apostle writes continual intercession with the Father Jehovah-salvation, is His personal
    to the church: "But ye are a cho-         for us; and also that He is our eternal         name, which He received of God by
    sen generation, a royal priesthood,       King, who governs us, and defends and           means of the angel even before His con-
an holy nation, a peculiar people, that       preserves us in that salvation He has           ception in the womb of the virgin Mary.
ye should shew forth the praises of him       obtained for us.                                "Jesus" is the personal name which
who hath called you out of darkness                  The Scriptures emphasize the im-         teaches us who He is.  "Christ," on the
into his marvelous light."                    portance of the confession that Jesus is        other hand, is the Mediator's official
    Hence, you are a people that shall        the Christ.  "Whosoever believeth that          name, His title, which teaches us what
                                              Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (I          He is, namely, the anointed Prophet,
                                              John 5:1a).  To Simon Peter's confession

  Taking Heed to the Doctrine                                                                               Rev. Steven Key


Priest, and King of God.
    The name Christ speaks of the Servant of Jehovah, as He is officially called, ordained and qualified to be  the Officebearer
of God, the Mediator and Head of the covenant.
    It was only gradually during His earthly ministry that Jesus became known as the Christ.  Gradually He became known as

the Christ to His disciples--not right at      name implied.                                   of Jesus hated Him, not so much be-
first.  Gradually He became known as                 From their earthly viewpoint, be-        cause He was called Jesus, but because
Christ to others, to His disciples in gen-    fore the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,         Jesus is the Christ.  When Jesus claimed
eral, and even to such as the Samaritan       they did not understand what the  call-         to be the Christ, they hated Him.  When,
woman.  And finally, in the strength of       ing and office of the Messiah was.  But         finally, the high priest asked the Lord
faith, they confessed that JESUS is the       they confessed that Jesus was the Mes-          whether He was the Christ, the Son of
CHRIST.  That was the strength of their       siah, the Christ of God.  And the Lord          God, and Jesus answered in the affir-
faith, even though at that time they did      said, Upon that confession I will build         mative, they cried out, Crucify Him!
not understand everything that that           My church, and the gates of hell shall          They did not want a Christ like that.
                                              not prevail against it.                             And so it is today.
Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Re-             Without that confession there can            Christ is the Anointed sent from
formed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.         be no church.                                   God.  That is the fundamental signifi-
                                                     For that same reason the enemies         cance of His name.  When we say that

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Christ was the Anointed, we mean that         bol of the Holy Spirit in Scripture.  That      heaven."  That is Christ!
Christ, according to Scripture, is the        is evident from many passages.  That is             Such is also the case in the text to
One who occupies the central position         seen in the vision of the candlestick in        which I have already referred, Isaiah
in the kingdom of God.                        Zechariah 4.  That same is indicated in         61:1.  That is the prophet Isaiah, yes.
                                              Isaiah 61:1, where the word of the              But that is centrally the Christ, as is evi-
Old Testament Anointing                       prophet is this:  "The Spirit of the Lord       dent in Luke 4, when Jesus sat down
    In Old Testament times, when a            GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath           and said, "This day is this Scripture ful-
chosen one was called to an important         anointed me to preach good tidings unto         filled in your ears."  Isaiah speaks as in
office He was anointed.  Thus Scripture       the meek," and so on.                           Christ.  Christ speaks in Isaiah 61.
mentions anointing to the office of               As the oil was poured out in a gen-             That is true of all Scripture.
prophet, priest, and king.                    erous amount, so the Holy Spirit would
    At God's command, Elijah had to           rest upon the anointed one to qualify           Christ the Fulfillment
anoint Elisha to be prophet in his place.     him for the office to which he was or-              Christ is the Anointed One, the Ser-
In Exodus 30:30, we read the charge           dained.                                         vant of Jehovah, the Prophet, the Priest,
God gave to Moses:  "And thou shalt               Now Christ is the Anointed One.             the King.
anoint Aaron and his sons, and conse-             There were many anointed ones in                Christ is the Anointed One.  He was
crate them, that they may minister unto       the Old Testament.  There were many             ordained by God to His office and quali-
me in the priest's office."  We read of-      who partook of Christ's anointing.  You         fied by the Holy Spirit to function in His
ten of kings being anointed to their of-      ask, How is that possible, when Christ          office.
fice.  That anointing showed, in the first    had not even come yet?  All those kings             All His authority came from God
place, that the  man who was anointed         and prophets and priests, all those             alone.  It was because Christ was or-
was ordained by God to his office.            anointed ones in the old dispensation           dained that He had authority to speak
    Anointing had so great significance       were simply figures.  They all were de-         and to teach.  It was because Christ was
that David dared not to raise his hand        pendent upon Him that was to come in            ordained and qualified by God that He
against Saul, even after David himself        the fullness of time.  If the Christ, if the    had authority to sacrifice.  It was be-
had been anointed in Saul's place.  He        Anointed One, did not come, there               cause Christ was ordained and quali-
would wait for God to remove Saul from        could have been no anointed ones in the         fied, anointed by God, that He had the
the throne, saying, "The LORD forbid that     Old Testament.  They were all types,            authority to rule over all things.
I should stretch forth mine hand against      figures of Him that was to come.  And               And He was anointed from eternity
him, seeing that he is the anointed of        as such they partook of His anointing.          and without measure.  The anointing of
the LORD."                                    That also is evident from many pas-             officebearers in the Old Testament was
    When the oil was poured upon the          sages in God's Word.  Let me point out          only a shadow of the anointing of Christ
head of him who had been chosen by            only a couple.                                  in eternity.  However generously the
God to serve as an officebearer in God's          Psalm 89 speaks of the anointing of         Holy Spirit was given to a man, no mat-
kingdom, that man  received the seal of       David.  "I have found David my ser-             ter how freely flowed the oil, as even
ordination.  The officebearer did not oc-     vant; with my holy oil have I anointed          down the beard of Aaron and all the
cupy that position in the kingdom of          him:  With whom my hand shall be es-            way down his skirts according to Psalm
God independently.  He received that po-      tablished:  mine  arm  also  shall              133, there was always a limit.  The full
sition.  He received the place and the        strengthen him.  The enemy shall not            horn or vial was soon emptied and the
authority and the power from God, and         exact upon him; nor the son of wicked-          flowing stopped.
as the anointed he remains forever un-        ness afflict him.  And I will beat down             But Christ was anointed with more
der God.  The anointed one is always a        his foes before his face, and plague them       than mere oil.  His anointing could not
servant.  God is supreme.                     that hate him.  But my faithfulness and         be limited by the cessation of the flow
    In the second place, that anointing       my mercy shall be with him: and in my           of oil.  He received the Spirit without
signified that the anointed one is also       name shall his horn be exalted.  I will         measure.  So  David could say in Psalm
qualified.  One that is servant in the        set his hand also in the sea, and his right     45, as quoted by the writer to the He-
kingdom of God cannot stand alone.  He        hand in the rivers.  He shall cry unto          brews, "Therefore God, even thy  God,
cannot possibly have the power from           me, Thou art my father, my God, and             hath anointed thee with the oil of glad-
himself to exercise that office.  There-      the rock of my salvation" (Ps. 89:20-26).       ness above thy fellows."
fore, the essence of the anointing was            That is David, oh yes.  But centrally       Thus Christ is the Servant of the Father,
that by that ceremony God pointed out         that is Christ.  Read on (vv. 27-29):  "Also    the Triune God, to complete the work
that the man so anointed had been             I will make him my firstborn, higher            of salvation, to build God's eternal
called and qualified to function in that      than the kings of the earth.  My mercy          house, realizing God's covenant by sav-
particular  office  to which  he  was         will I keep for him for evermore, and           ing the elect chosen in Him from eter-
anointed.                                     my covenant shall stand fast with him.          nity.
    That is the significance of the oil in    His seed also will I make to endure for             Jesus, God in the flesh, our salva-
anointing.  Oil, as you know, is a sym-       ever, and his throne as the days of             tion, became the Servant of the Lord, to

200/Standard Bearer/February 1, 1998


preach, to sacrifice, to reign forever.          only problem in the Christian Re-
       Truly the salvation of His people         formed Church.                                  Then followed an attempt to derail
lies immovable and sure, above all the             "We have been greatly disturbed by        the process.  Rev. Ed Van Baak, CRC
attacks of God's enemies which rage be-          the actions which the CRC has taken         delegate proposed:
low.  The work of God is placed in the           and which are a matter of public
                                                 record," said Perrin.  "We feel this has
hands of Him whose work cannot fail.             set a precedent that they can suspend           "I don't know if we're prepared in
       He is Jesus, the Christ, precious to      their own constitution on any issue in        this forum, at this date, to discuss
all you who believe.    u                                                                      these details, but these details are es-
                                                 the future in response to social pres-
s      A Major Embarrassment                     sure."                                        sential to coming to an understanding
for the CRC                                        "We are not suggesting that the             of the issues," said Van Baak.  In re-
W                                                                                              sponse,  Van  Baak  moved  that
          hat  clearly  proved  to  be  a        Christian Reformed Church has sud-            NAPARC "establish an ad hoc commit-
          major embarrassment to the             denly ceased to be an evangelical             tee of member churches of NAPARC
Christian Reformed Church took place             body, nor are we saying its people are        to examine the PCA statements con-
on November 19, 1997 at NAPARC                   second-rate Christians," continued
                                                 Perrin, who noted that denominations          cerning the CRC for its position on the
(North American Presbyterian and Re-             which were moving toward aberrant             ordination of women in the offices of
formed Council).  This organization, co-         views do so slowly and with subtle            minister, elder, and evangelist, and de-
founded by the CRC 23 years ago, voted                                                         velop a position regarding the consis-
                                                 rather than dramatic changes.  "Those
6-1 to suspend the CRC from this fel-            of you who deal with the insidious na-        tency  of  varying  positions  with
lowship of conservative denominations.           ture of a creeping away from the Re-          NAPARC's criteria for membership, to
                                                                                               report to NAPARC 1999."
The one vote against suspension was              formed faith will know exactly what
cast by the CRC.  This means that if the         I'm talking about."                             The proposed delay was defeated
vote is ratified by 2/3 of the denomina-                                                     by voice vote.  A tactic that   had worked
tions within three years, the CRC will             The debate did not go over well           successfully at many CRC synods failed
lose its voting rights.                        with the CRC delegates.  First, the del-      on this assembly.  NAPARC vice-presi-
       The United Reformed News Service        egates presented a strong repudiation         dent Rev. Ron Potter told the CRC that :
presented an extended report on the de-        of the proposal, followed later by an at-
bate which preceded the vote.                  tempt to derail the motion.  First, Rev.
                                               Leonard Hofman, interchurch relations             "NAPARC had no choice because
                                                                                               NAPARC membership is limited to de-
       The Rev. Ric Perrin, interchurch re-    administrative secretary of the CRC and         nominations affirming the Westminster
     lations committee chairman for the        former CRC General Secretary stated:            Standards of Presbyterianism or the
     Presbyterian Church in America, said                                                      Three Forms of Unity of the Dutch Re-
     the 1995 CRC vote to ordain women              "This is not a court.  What are you        formed tradition, and the CRC had
     forced his denomination to propose          hoping to achieve in a vote to suspend        changed its position on a matter ad-
     suspension.  "In our opinion they are       us?  Are you trying to discipline us?         dressed in the confessions."  Potter
     saying that Scripture no longer gov-        Do you have that right?   We do not           read Article 30 of the Belgic Confes-
     erns the CRC on that issue," said           want to be accused or even described          sion and noted that the confession
     Perrin.  "We think that is a fundamen-      as giving in to a subtle cancer of an         specified that "men" are to be elected
     tal shift away from the historic posi-      insidious nature that is pulling us           to office.
     tion."                                      away from the Word of God.                      That brought an extended debate on
       Perrinwho was originally ordained          ...Do we differ?  Of course we do.  I         the meaning of the confession.  CRC
     in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and        go back to the days when we had some          General Secretary Dr. David Engelhard
     previously urged admission of the           real questions about the Orthodox             said the RCUS delegate was quoting a
     Evangelical Presbyterian Church to          Presbyterian Church and its view on           bad translation of the Belgic Confes-
     NAPARC despite its decision to allow        the lodge.  Tables have been shifted in       sion and that the underlying word in
     the ordination of womenemphasized          these days."                                  the original language didn't refer to
     that women's ordination wasn't the

     All Around Us                                                                                    Rev. Gise VanBaren

                                                 in the original languages also referred     tions have, in years past, set forth what
     "men" but rather "people."  Orthodox        to male officebearers, quoted CRC syn-      is to be considered Reformed and Pres-
     Presbyterian delegate Elder Mark Bube       odical decisions on the matter, and         byterian.  They have agreed on the con-
     noted that another confessional refer-      asked the current status of Christian
     ence with a different underlying word                                                   fessions which give expression to their
                                                 Reformed confessional language.             "Calvinism."  To have six of the denomi-
                                                                                             nations tell the seventh, "You no longer
                                                   The Christian Reformed Church             belong in the camp of those who are `Re-
Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protestant      has had a very close working relation-        formed,' must not only prove to be an
Reformed  Church  of  Loveland, Colorado.      ship with most of those six denomina-         embarrassment, but represents espe-
                                               tions over the years.  These denomina-        cially a very strong testimony.  The CRC
                                                                                                  February 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/201


has, in the past years, seen many thou-                Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.  "If        eral Cabinet officers endorsed a K-12
                                                       [Mr. Vriend] wins it will mean that           plan to teach children to be tolerant of
sands of its members leaving.  Now six
                                                       judges have completely taken over the         racial minorities, homosexuals, and
of its closest friends are saying, "You are            mantle of legislators in Canada.  They        the disabled. What makes anyone think
not Reformed according to our confes-                  will have begun to write entire phrases       the government will be more success-
sions."  All this should send a strong                 into the laws passed by our legisla-          ful at directing young people's behav-
message.  Will it change the course of                 tors."                                        ior in this area than it has been with
the CRC?  I doubt it.  There are none so                                                             drugs, sexual activity, and driving?
blind as those who will not see.  One                    Mr. Vriend won the first round of
can expect that the CRC will now be               the court case in April of 1994 when the             Thomas continues:
making overtures for closer union with            judge ruled that "sexual orientation"
the Reformed Church in America and                should be read into Alberta's Individual             Yes, it takes a village, doesn't it?
those who are cooperating with them.              Rights Protection Act (IRPA) as a pro-             You parents are a bunch of bigoted im-
                                                  tected category.  This judge, Ms. Russell,         beciles who probably tell racist jokes
                                                  was subsequently promoted to the                   and make fun of gays and the disabled.
                                                                                                     Your kids pick this up and that's why
s      "UnVriendly precedent"                     Alberta Court of Appeal--the court to               they grow up to be just like you.  Only
                                                  which her own decision was appealed.               the government, through its re-educa-
Such  was  the title of an article
      appearing in World magazine, No-            This three-person court unexpectedly               tion camps...uh...schools, can straighten
vember 15, 1997.  Its sub-title empha-            overturned her decision.                           out this mess.  Give them your poor,
sizes: "High Court homosexuality case                    Now it has been appealed to the Su-         tired children and they will set them
threatens religious freedom."                     preme Court of Canada.  A decision is              free from their homophobia, racism,
       The magazine presents a brief sum-         expected in the fall of next year.  Many           sexism, and disability-ism.
mary of the case:                                 fear that this court will side with                  To the Clinton Administration, di-
                                                  Vriend.                                            versity means there is no right or
                                                                                                     wrong and that no lifestyle, nation, be-
       In 1991 Delwin Vriend wore a pink                 There are at least two basic issues         lief, economic, or political system is
     triangle lapel pin to work, a proud          at stake.  The article emphasizes that the         to be preferred over any other.  If that
     badge of his homosexuality.  But the         courts appear to be ready not only to              is true, why do so many want to im-
     triangle was too much for the long-suf-      interpret the law, but to make it.  But the        migrate to America?
     fering administration at The King's
     University College, the small Christian      serious issue of religious freedom also              This latest, but probably not last, ef-
     Reformed  liberal  arts  college  in         arises.  Is a church or a Christian edu-           fort by the government to reprogram
     Edmonton, Alberta, where Mr. Vriend          cational institution required to hire or to        the minds of our children must be re-
     worked as a laboratory coordinator.          retain those whose "life-style" is in vio-         sisted.  Concerned parents are wast-
     When Mr. Vriend  "came out," school          lation of Scripture's teaching?  If the            ing their time trying to reform a cor-
                                                                                                     rupt system....
     administrators, who had known about          court's decision ultimately means that,
     his homosexuality for more than a            the state will be in a position to shut
     year, felt they had to fire him.  Mr.                                                             Thomas concludes, and we would
                                                  down every faithful church and school.
     Vriend went to court, and on Nov. 4                                                           wholeheartedly agree:
     and 5, his case was finally heard by
     Canada's Supreme Court.                                                                           The education monopoly should be
       Instead of attacking the college for       s      "Diversity Diversion"
     treating him unfairly, Mr. Vriend sued
     the Alberta provincial government.           I                                                  ended.  Parents are not the enemies of
                                                       n another issue of  World  maga-              education.  Most do not promote hate.
                                                       zine, December 6, 1997, the syndi-            We'd be better off if we stopped try-
     Alberta is one of only four jurisdictions    cated columnist Cal Thomas has an ar-              ing to change the system and, instead,
     in Canada (Newfoundland, Prince Ed-          ticle which reminds again of the inroads           withdrew the raw material the govern-
     ward Island, and the Northwest Terri-        of government into the educational sys-            ment schools need in order to impose
     tories are the other three) that do not      tem.                                               a left-wing, pagan agenda on a new
     include homosexuals as a protected                                                              generation.
     category in their human-rights code.
                                                         First there was phys-ed.  Then came
     Mr. Vriend wants the courts to force
                                                       driver's-ed.  Next it was sex-ed and            So we have sought, by God's grace,
     the Alberta Human Rights Commission
                                                       then drug-ed, followed by environ-          to instill into our children within our
     to accept his complaint that he has
                                                       ment-ed.  Now, President Clinton was        own schools those scriptural principles
     been discriminated against because of
                                                       to add "diversity education" to the long    which are essential for God's people to
     his sexual preference.
                                                       list of nonacademic subjects, even
       The importance of Mr. Vriend's case                                                         know in order to live on this earth to
                                                       though surveys show the government
     goes far beyond the immediate issue                                                           His glory.  And though our schools and
                                                       schools are failing to achieve minimal
     of religious freedom.  "We think this                                                         pupils are hardly perfect, we have seen
                                                       standards in such critical areas as
     is a watershed case," says Gerry                                                              the good fruits of this sort of education
                                                       reading, science, and geography.
     Chipeur, the Calgary constitutional                                                           in godly living.  These pupils are not
                                                         At a White House conference on
     lawyer who represents intervenors Fo-
                                                       "hate crimes" held at George Washing-       only better prepared academically (at
     cus on the Family--Canada and the
                                                       ton University, the president and sev-      far, far lower cost) than the public

202/Standard Bearer/February 1, 1998


school students, they are above all          eyes open and shall not be ashamed any          form in Paradise.  It must have been
taught proper morals and scriptural re-      longer.                                         some appearance of God, a theophany,
quirements for the godly life.  Christian        By the same token, we must remem-           some visible and audible manifestation
parents ought, thankfully, to continue       ber that although our clothing is uni-          of the Lord God such as later appeared
their sacrifices to provide an education     versal and shared also by the wicked,           in the Angel of Jehovah.  For Adam and
that no government can or will.   u          nevertheless grace is not universal, nei-       Eve "heard the voice of the Lord God
                                             ther is clothing a gift of so-called com-       walking in the garden."  Besides, their
              The                            mon grace.  The wicked have clothes,            very attempt to hide from the presence
                                             but they have no grace of God with their        of the Lord also presupposes this.
                                             clothes.  That they do not becomes                  Moreover, the text seems to suggest
   Revelation                                plainly manifest in the fact that they          that God's coming to the garden was not
                                             pervert even the gift of clothing and           in itself unusual, that He may have
                                             subject it to the service of sin.  Not only     come to Adam and Eve daily, especially
          of the                             do they change clothing into an item of         when we take note of Adam's answer
                                             vainglory, as though the essential ugli-        to the Lord's question, "Where art
       Wonder                                ness of sin and death can be covered up         thou?"  In verse 10 Adam does not an-
                                             by clothes, but they also make of cloth-        swer this question directly, but seems
                                             ing an instrument of the lust of the flesh      to answer the real intent of the ques-
  of Grace in and the lust of the eyes.  Instead of us- tion, as if God asked for the reason for
                                             ing it to cover the body, they use it to        his hiding himself:  "And he said, I
                                             expose the body, and that for the very          heard thy voice in the garden, and I was
     Paradise                                purpose of exciting and satisfying the          afraid, because I was naked; and I hid
                                             lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes.     myself."  One gets the impression that
                                             This depraved inclination simply comes          it was a regular occurrence for the Lord
                                             to one of its grossest manifestations in        God to come to the garden and that pre-
          Chapter 7                          the pornography and the exaltation of           viously Adam would go to meet his
                                             nudity that increasingly plagues mod-           God, while now he hides himself and
The Lord Coming                              ern society, but which the world is nev-        the Lord must call him.  This would also
to Seek His Own
W                                            ertheless unable to combat for the              be in harmony with the whole idea of
           e have already seen that          simple reason that these grosser mani-          Paradise the First in the state of perfec-
           Adam and Eve vainly at-           festations are but the outgrowth and the        tion:  it was Adam's house with God.
           tempted to cover the naked-       fruit of its own lust.                          However this may be, here it is evident
ness of their sin with their self-made           The child of God, on the other hand,        that Jehovah God makes Himself mani-
aprons of fig leaves.  We should note        will surely understand that he can have         fest in the garden, and Adam and Eve
yet, in that connection, that the origin     no part with these unfruitful works of          hear His approach.
of clothing dates from the time of the       darkness, and that all the world's for-             It was in the cool of the day that
fall.  For although Adam and Eve vainly      nication and uncleanness should not be          the Lord approached Adam and Eve.
tried to cover their nakedness, we know      so much as named among God's people,            Literally, the text speaks of the Lord's
that, according to verse 21 of Genesis 3,    as becometh saints.  They realize that          coming "in the wind of the day."  Ac-
the Lord Himself provided them with          there is no solution to and no real power       cording to some, this refers to the morn-
clothing in the form of coats of skins.      to fight against all these manifestations       ing breeze, while others explain that it
We must remember, however, that the          of lust, except in Christ Jesus our Lord        is the evening breeze.  There is no way
proper idea of clothing resides in the       and through the real spiritual covering         of telling which is meant; but if the ref-
fact that it is a gift of God's grace to     of sin that there is in His blood and by        erence is to the time of day, then I would
His people.  It is provided to cover the     His Spirit, the Spirit of holiness.             suggest that it must have been the
nakedness and the ugliness of our sin            But now let us return to the account        evening of the same day.  My reason is
and death before the Lord and before         in Genesis 3.  We note, first, that Adam        that I do not think that the Lord would
one another.  As such, it remains neces-     and Eve tried to hide from the Lord:            wait even overnight either to curse the
sary as long as we are not finally deliv-    "And they heard the voice of the Lord           devil or to seek His children.
ered from sin and death, as long as we       God walking in the garden in the cool               But what we must pay attention to
remain in the body of this death.            of the day:  and Adam and his wife hid          at  this  point  is  God's  marvelous
    Further, we may say that for the         themselves from the presence of the             lovingkindness.  Notice, first of all, that
child of God his clothing is symbolic        Lord God amongst the trees of the gar-          the Lord comes to seek Adam and Eve.
also of his covering in Christ.  When in     den" (v. 8).                                    He does not wait for them to seek Him,
eternity we shall be perfectly and com-          Notice, first of all, that the text here    for as they had fallen into sin and death
pletely clothed in Christ's righteous-       presupposes that there was a revelation         they would never seek Him again.  They
ness, then we shall be naked with our        of Jehovah God in some perceptible              had rejected His Word.  They had for-

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  Day of Shadows                                                                                        Homer Hoeksema


saken the Lord their God.  They had turned to the devil's service.  His word they had heeded.  They were alienated from
Jehovah God through their own willful disobedience.  But the Lord comes to them.  Such is the wonder of grace!  God's grace is
always first and sovereign.  The sinner, unless and until he has been touched by the power of that grace, will never seek Him.
He must needs flee from God.  But God in His grace, and for reasons that He does not find in us but in Himself, comes first to
seek and to save His own.  And remember, it requires exactly such grace--pure, sovereign grace, grace that is first--in order to
save a hopelessly lost and totally corrupt sinner.
    That God indeed came in His grace to Adam and Eve cannot be doubted.  For the Lord comes in the gentle breeze, not in the
howling storm or in the roaring thunder or in the consuming fire.  He comes in the way in which Adam had heard Him come
before, in the wind of the day.  He comes announcing His coming, for Adam, even before the Lord appears, hears the voice of the



Lord God walking in the garden.  Indeed,      of the way of forgiveness they also            and from the wrath of the Lamb."  But
had not the Lord God come in His grace,       could not know as yet.  Therefore, also,       when He approaches in the gentle
He must needs have destroyed Adam             the way of repentance and confession           zephyr of  the gospel, His Word is:  "To-
and Eve finally and forever in His con-       of sin was not yet open unto them.             day, if ye will hear His voice, harden
suming wrath.                                     This will also explain the fact that       not your hearts.  Rather, meet Him!
    But this is grace.  To be sure, Jeho-     while the motif of the Lord's coming to        Meet Him naked, but on your knees!"
vah God comes to make Adam look like          them is grace, Adam and his wife nev-              Notice next, however, that the Lord
the fool that he was with his fig-leaf        ertheless hide among the trees of the          does not allow Adam to remain in hid-
apron tied around him.  To be sure, He        garden.  They do not yet realize and           ing.  He approaches him with the
comes to expose and to reprove the sin-       taste the Lord's grace.                        searching question, "Adam, where art
ner.  For God's grace does not and can-           Notice that when the Lord comes,           thou?"  The Lord does not discover him
not function apart from His perfect           they immediately sense that their              in his hiding place.  This does not mean,
righteousness and spotless holiness.          aprons of fig leaves are no protection.        of course, that God did not know where
His grace is a holy and righteous grace.      The Lord is coming, and it is His ap-          Adam was, nor even that He left this
Therefore, God's grace does not and           proach that causes them to realize that        impression upon Adam.  The contrary
cannot ignore Adam's sin, but it pur-         their self-made covering is of no avail.       is true.  But the Lord acts as if they are
poses to rescue him from that sin.  For       That this is true is plain from Adam's         actually in hiding from Him.  Instead
the same reason, when the Lord seeks          own explanation of his hiding in verse         of going and appearing in their hiding
Adam and Eve in His grace, the Lord in        10:  "I heard thy voice in the garden,         place, the Lord calls Adam, "Where art
His dealings with them does and can-          and I was afraid, because I was naked;         thou?"  He leaves it to Adam to appear.
not simply pass by their sin, but calls       and I hid myself."  At the same time, let      That Adam does appear and not flee
them to account.  Nevertheless, the very      us note that there is a further discovery      still farther, that Adam does not con-
manner of Jehovah's coming to our first       here on the part of Adam and Eve:  they        tinue his hiding but responds to the
parents bespeaks His grace.  It an-           have been made to realize the futility         Lord's question, is due to the fact that
nounced peace, love, reconciliation, sal-     of their fig-leaf aprons before the eyes       God caused His voice to enter into
vation, communion.                            of the Lord.                                   Adam's inmost heart.  Adam must an-
    Indeed, Adam and his wife did not             But to their sin they add yet more         swer the summons.  For remember:  the
know this grace of God as yet, nor had        sin and folly when they hide.  Their hid-      Lord is dealing pedagogically with
its power made itself felt in their con-      ing is sin because they still attempt to       Adam.  He purposes not only to draw
sciousness.  How could they know it?          cover up, rather than to acknowledge           Adam from his hiding place, but also
All they knew was the stark and hor-          their sin and to confess it before the         to induce him to give account of him-
rible fact of their own sin.  Of a Savior     Lord who is approaching; they attempt          self as to the real reason for his hiding.
and of the promise of a Savior, or even       to cover up this time by hiding com-           Hence, the Lord's question as it were,
of the possibility of a Savior, they could    pletely among the trees of the garden.         evinces surprise:  "Adam, where art
not and they did not yet know.  For no        Their hiding is folly because there is no      thou?  I used to meet you here in the
gospel had been announced as yet.             cure in fleeing from Jehovah in the cool       garden in the cool of the day.  Why not
Therefore, of the forgiveness of sins and     of the day.  When He comes in the thun-        now?"
                                              der of His justice to execute judgment,            Moreover, as is plain from Adam's
                                              then the cry, but still the futile cry, of     answer, the Lord's question purposes to
The late Homer Hoeksema was professor of      the sinner must needs be, "Mountains,          discover Adam's condition.  It means,
Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Prot-      fall on us; hills, cover us!  Hide us from     and Adam understood it thus:  "Adam,
estant Reformed Seminary.                     the face of him that sitteth on the throne,    where art thou--not only as to your place,

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but as to your condition?"  And yet re-       blames the serpent, "The serpent be-
member that the question of the Lord          guiled me, and I did eat."  Also she,
was one of love, basically.  For the Lord     therefore, attempts to shift the respon-                     "To
purposes to save Adam.  From this             sibility from herself, while she admits
point of view, the question as to its in-     the act as such.
tent means:  "Adam, where art thou?  I            The stage is now set for the first         Believe or
am seeking.  Come thou to Me."                revelation of the promise of the gospel.
    Adam then answers the question                In conclusion, we must first note
according to its real meaning, as if Je-      the following, however:                                Not To
hovah God had asked for the reason of         1. This entire narrative reveals that
his hiding.  He replies that he was na-       for fallen man as he is in himself there
ked and on that account was afraid.  The      is absolutely no way out.  Adam and            Believe..."
Lord had made him realize that before         Eve must confess their sins, but they
the presence of God sin became mani-          cannot confess because they know noth-              John 12: 34-50
fest through his very body; even his out-     ing of the forgiveness of sins as yet.
ward appearance now condemned him.            Where there is no confidence of forgive-           That is the question.
But the Lord continues to question him.       ness and reception, there the sinner does          Some may think other questions
He purposes that Adam give account of         not dare to appear before the face of the      and matters are more or at least equally
this sudden knowledge of his nakedness        Judge of heaven and earth.  Adam and           important.  "To invest in stocks, or not
and of his fear on account of it:  "Who       Eve must have a covering for their sin,        to invest in stocks."  "To marry or not to
told thee that thou wast naked?"  The         but they can find none of themselves.          marry."  "To change jobs or not to
Lord Himself suggests the answer:             In their self-made aprons they know            change jobs."  "To go to church on De-
"Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I       that they are naked before God, and            cember 25 or not to."
commanded that thou shouldest not             they blame their nakedness, rather than            But to believe in Jesus or not to be-
eat?"  The Lord inquires as to the cause      their corruption, because they have no         lieve in Jesus is the question one must
of Adam's fear and his knowledge of           covering for the latter.  They must have       answer.  It is the issue one must address.
his own nakedness.  Naked Adam had            garments indeed, but not outward gar-          It is the decision one must make--now,
always been, but not afraid.  Why then        ments of their own making; inward,             and every day.
is he afraid now?                             spiritual garments they must have.                 To believe or not to believe in Jesus,
    Adam admits, but does not confess         Such garments the sinner does not have         in all that we do or say, think or
his sin.  There is indeed an important        and cannot procure of himself.                 desire...this is the most important thing.
difference.  To confess the guilt of one's    2. Clearly the narrative reveals that              The reason believing or not believ-
sin is much more than the mere admis-         salvation is altogether of the Lord.  If       ing is the question, the issue, the deci-
sion of the act of one's sin.  Confession     the narrative of Genesis 3 had ended           sion of life is that believing or not be-
implies the assumption of the full re-        with Eve's words, "The serpent beguiled        lieving is the way to the Father or the
sponsibility for the sin, and it implies      me, and I did eat," how hopeless the           way to the fire.  Believing in Jesus is the
true sorrow over sin.  Of these there is      situation would be, how utterly hope-          way to the Father and to eternal life.
no evidence in Adam's reply to God:           less.  But the narrative does not end          Not believing in Jesus is the way to the
"The woman whom thou gavest to be             there.  God is the God of our salvation.       fire of hell and to eternal death.
with me, she gave me of the tree, and I       He exposes the sinner in the depth of              To believe or not to believe ... is to
did eat."  The fact of the matter is that     the corruption of his sin.  He exposes         be or not to be ... saved!
Adam attempts to shift the responsibil-       him as utterly helpless and hopeless in
ity and the guilt of his sin to his wife,     himself, with no covering for his naked-               333    333    333
and from his wife even to God Himself,        ness because he has no covering for his
suggesting that if God had not given          sin and corruption.  But He also pro-              In the passage before us, John
him this woman, then he would not             vides those inward, spiritual garments,        12:34-50, we see plainly how "to believe
have violated the command.                    coverings for his sins in Christ Jesus our     or not to believe" is the question.  We
    But the Lord, because He is deal-         Lord, garments that enable him to walk         see here some not willing to believe, but
ing pedagogically with His children,          before Him in the light, naked to the          instead to be sermon critics and Scrip-
and because He purposes to reveal His         bottom of his soul, with the confidence        ture-twisters.  We listen to Jesus admon-
own promise of salvation, and because         that there is forgiveness with Him, the        ish them to believe (vv. 34-36).  There
He is setting the stage for that revela-      confidence that through the blood of           is an explanation of the reason why so
tion of the promise, allows Himself, as       Jesus Christ He will receive him and           many believed not Jesus (vv. 37-41).
it were, to be turned from Adam to the        consider him as though he never had            Then there is mention of the fact that to
woman.  When the woman is confronted          had nor committed any sin.   u                 some "to believe or not to believe" was
by the Lord's question, "What is this                                    to be continued...    not the question.  They chose instead to
that thou hast done?" she, in turn,

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believe "sort of" (vv. 42, 43).  Finally we    law," e.g., II Samuel 7; Psalm 2, etc.)?       Diligent study of the causes of unbelief
have recorded in this passage a sum-               Why do these people, and so many           leads to our consideration of other re-
mary statement of what it is to believe        also today, refuse to accept the neces-        lated matters.  Discuss also these:
or not to believe (vv. 44-50).                 sity of Christ's death for His people?             1) The sovereignty of God/the re-
    To believe or not to believe Jesus.            This claim of the people is a classic      sponsibility of man.  Is this true, as
That is the question always, and also          example of what we see so often today:         some minister has said: "God is 100%
here in this portion of sacred writ.  That     picking and choosing certain texts in          sovereign; man is 100% responsible"?
is the subject.  See for yourself.  Search     Scripture which seem to support one's          How do we refute the charges that the
the Scriptures.  And believe!                  position, and overlooking, even twist-         doctrine of the absolute sovereignty of
                                               ing those which seem to deny one's po-         God makes God the author of sin and
         For Study,                            sition.  What texts in the Old Testament       makes man a mere puppet of God?
                                               do in fact teach the (necessity of the)            2) The free offer of the gospel.
  Meditation, &                                death of the Christ?                           Some say that God sincerely desires to
                                                   The people's unbelief prompts an           save all who hear the preaching of the
         Discussion                            exhortation from Jesus to believe in the       gospel.  He wants all, He urges all, He
                                               light while the light (Jesus Himself, cf.      begs all, in ardent love, to believe, and,
1. Denying...departing                           John 8:12) is still with them (vv. 35, 36).    therefore, to be saved.  Others, includ-
(vv. 34-36).                                   What is the spiritual significance of all      ing the Protestant Reformed Churches,
    What is believing on Jesus?  What is       these truths: the light, the darkness,         deny that there can be such a passion
not believing on Jesus?                        walking in the light, being children of        and love of God for all to be saved who
    The people who heard Jesus speak           the light?  How do we show we are chil-        hear the preaching.  Think on this and
of the glorification of the Father and the     dren of the light, walking in the light?       discuss this in light of the various
Son and the church were unbelievers.               Jesus, the all-wise preacher, recog-       causes  of  unbelief  (e.g.,  Can  God
    The people show their unbelief in          nizing the unbelief of His audience,           "harden" someone He at the same time
two ways.                                      warns the people that the light will be        desires to save? Can the sovereignty of
    The people show this unbelief first        with them only a little while longer.          God be maintained if the desires of God
in their misinterpretation of the voice        After this brief, yet sharp, warning,          with respect to many are ultimately not
from heaven.  The voice was God's              Jesus departs, and hides Himself from          fulfilled?  Can there be a desire in God
voice. It was plainly God's voice.  John       them (v. 36)!  His departing is judg-          for all to be saved if there is no cross for
the believer evidently knew it to be           ment.  For His departure is the depar-         all?)
God's voice.  But some said the voice          ture of the Word and gospel of God, the            3) How is the gospel always "tri-
was thunder.  Others said it was an            only hope of life eternal, from a people       umphant" if many who hear it do not
angel's voice (v. 28, 29).   In unbelief       which had rejected God and Messiah.            believe it (cf. II Cor. 2:14-17)?  How is
the people could not rise above the level      Elijah and the prophetic word had been         this an encouragement to us when in the
of creature.  They could believe in thun-      taken away from Israel under the idola-        preaching of the true gospel the multi-
der.  They might be fascinated with the        trous Ahab.  Jesus, the true Word from         tudes continue to resist our preaching,
thought of angels.  But they refuse to         heaven, departs from the Jews under the        and instead flock to the mega-church
hear and to acknowledge God.  How is           self-righteous reign of the Pharisees.         down the street?
this sort of unbelief manifest today?              God in Christ hiding Himself from
    Second, this unbelief shows itself in      the church!  How is this evident today?        3. Some believe...
the people's refusing to acknowledge                                                          sort of (vv. 42, 43).
the Messiah who is revealed in Scrip-          2. The explanation                                 Many of the chief rulers believed
ture.   It is especially over the truth        of unbelief (vv. 37-41).                       on Jesus.  However, they were afraid of
Jesus had just proclaimed about His dy-            Jesus spoke convincing sermons.            being put out of the synagogue, and
ing (vv. 23ff., and especially v. 32) that     Jesus worked convincing miracles.  No          therefore they did not confess Jesus.
the people stumble.  They will have            one who heard Jesus, no one who saw                Was the faith of these rulers fake?
none of this: their Messiah, dying?!  God      or heard of Jesus' miracles might deny         Is it ever possible to believe on Jesus, and
forbid!  "We have heard out of the law         that Jesus is the Christ.                      yet not to confess Him publicly (cf.
that Christ abideth for ever: and how              The passage in John 12:37-41 tells         Matt. 10:32, 33; Rom. 10:9, 10)?  Is it ever
sayest thou, the son of man must be            us that though no one might deny Jesus         wise to be silent about our faith?
lifted up?  who is this Son of man" (v.        (it is wrong to do so!), yet many did deny         How do we confess Jesus?  How do
34)?!                                          Him and believe not on Him.                    we "walk the talk"?
    To what law might the people be                From the passage and from the pas-
referring as proof that Christ abideth         sages referred to in Isaiah 6 and 53, and      4. To believe,
for ever (might it be in the Pentateuch,       in the light of the entire Word of God,        or not to believe (vv. 44-50).
e.g., Genesis 17, 49, or in the rest of the    cite three or four explanations for the            This passage is a summary and re-
Old Testament, here referred to as "the        cause of unbelief.                             view of the authority and ministry of

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  Search the Scriptures                                                                                    Rev. Mitchell Dick


Jesus.  We cannot be sure when Jesus said these words.  Perhaps John, under the inspiration of the Spirit, compiled various
statements Jesus had made all along regarding His ministry and authority, and was led to include them here in his account
where is recorded the close of Jesus' public ministry.  Certainly this remarkable summary of Jesus' credentials is to state very
plainly just what it is to believe, or not to believe, on this the Son and Messiah of God!
    Arthur Pink, in his commentary on John, notes how each verse of this passage has a reference to what Jesus had said
earlier.  Look these up for yourself:
John 12:    Other passages in John:

                                               4), Isaiah saw Jesus!  What does this say           Believe just in Jesus!
v. 44              5:24                        of Jesus?                                           At the time of my writing this (De-
v. 45              8:19; 10:38                      What do you say of Jesus?  How do          cember 25, 1997)  there is talk on the
v. 46              8:12; 9:5                   we show we believe in Him, God of glory         radio and in the press, and also among
v. 47              5:45; 3:17                  revealed, God of our salvation?                 the clerics and churches, of acceptance
v. 48              3:18                             Dear reader: believe!  Believe entirely    of all kinds of religion.  There is truly
v. 49              5:30; 7:16; 8:26-28         in Jesus.  Rejoice and be glad through          "no room in the inn" for the Jesus who
v. 50              3:11; 5:32; 8:55            faith in Him. He is salvation and ever-         declares that to believe in Him is to be
                                               lasting life!                                   saved, and to believe not in Him is to
    How in this passage does Jesus                                                             be damned....  Here them soliloquize, and
once more affirm that His authority and               then pontificate: "To be or not to be ... tolerant.  That is the question."
ministry are of God?  Why is not be-                         Enter Antichrist.  Exit Truth.
lieving on such a One condemnation,                                                                                                u
and why is believing on such a One life
everlasting?
    In this passage Jesus equates be-                                                          all its supporting references to the con-
lieving on Him with "seeing" Him and                                                           fessions are printed out in full.  That,
"receiving" His words.  Unbelief is                         A Brief                            after all, was its purpose.  The Declara-
equated with "not seeing" Jesus and "not                                                       tion was intended simply to point out
receiving" His words, but instead "re-          Declaration certain confessional principles which
jecting" Jesus and His words.  What do                                                         must be observed in setting forth any
these equations say of faith and unbe-                                                         acceptable view of the covenant.  And
lief?                                                              of                          in doing so it designated--if we may go
    John 12:47 states that Jesus did not                                                       back and pick up a rather ancient term--
come to judge the world, but to save it                                                        our loci communes,  or what might more
(cf. 3:17).  Other places speak of judg-           Principles                                  loosely be called our "places of com-
ment being appointed to the Son: 5:22,                                                         munion."
27; 8:16, 26.  And Jesus says in John 9:39:                                                        The expression loci communes is
"For judgment I have come into this                                                            Latin, and translates literally, "common
                                                    And be ready always to give an an-
world."  How do these statements har-                                                          places."  It was, in Reformation days,
                                               swer to every man that asketh you a
monize?                                                                                        used to indicate what was considered
                                               reason of the hope that is in you with          to be a basic element in the practice of
                                               meekness and fear.
5. Perspective (John 20:31).                                                                   "dialectics."  Dialectics was a form of
                                                                               I Peter 3:15
    In referring to Isaiah 6 as evidence                                                       reasoning or study through which un-
of the kind of judicial hardening which        On looking at the Brief Dec- derstanding of a subject was developed
                                                            laration of Principles,  which
was going on through Jesus' own min-                                                           through the exchange of ideas, or dia-
                                                            was drawn up by the Protes-
istry, John 12:41 tells us that Isaiah saw                                                     logue.  Few have expressed its basic
                                               tant Reformed synod in 1950, one might
"his glory."  The reference is clearly to                                                      idea more distinctly than did Rev.
                                               wonder at its claim to be "brief."  In its
Jesus.  When Isaiah saw the Lord, Jeho-                                                        Hoeksema once, many years ago, while
                                               original form it appeared as a full pam-
vah, sitting in all His glory on the                                                           preaching about the men on the road to
                                               phlet by itself, and one reading it today
throne, high and lifted up (Isaiah 6:1-                                                        Emmaus.  He brought out how, after
                                               goes through a full 24 pages of very            Jesus had joined them on the way, they
                                               solid material as it appears in our             made mention of the things which had
                                               present book of church order.  But this
Rev. Dick is pastor of Grace Protestant                                                        happened at Jerusalem, to which Jesus
                                               is misleading; for the actual Declaration
Reformed Church in Standale, Michigan.                                                         replied, Luke 24:18, "What things?"  At
                                               is in itself quite brief, with its appear-      that point Rev. Hoeksema remarked:
                                               ance of length being due to the fact that

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"That is the basic principle of pedagogy     time, and through the concourse of                   salvation on the part of God to all men,
(sound teaching method -- BW):  Listen!       events had an opportunity to visit al-               nor a conditional offer to all that are
Take my advice.  When talking with oth-      most individually with each of our pas-              born in the historical dispensation of
ers, whether they agree with you or dis-     tors; and things began to change.  For               the covenant, that is, to all that are
agree, let them talk!  This is the funda-    the first dissonant sounds of objection              baptized, but an oath of God that He
                                                                                                  will infallibly lead all the elect unto
mental principle of all good pedagogy."      were heard against our past insistence               salvation and eternal glory through
And he did that himself.  When teach-        on these doctrines, together with a                  faith.
ing, whether in the seminary classroom       growing cry for more "practical" preach-                        3.     That the unregenerate
or in the adult catechism class which he     ing.  Quietly at first, but with growing             man is totally incapable of doing any
taught throughout his ministry, he was       insistence, it was claimed that, as long             good, wholly depraved, and therefore
always distinctly interested in what         as one voiced agreement with the con-                can only sin.
those he was teaching had to ask or say.     fessions, he should be free to pursue his
In fact, even in his preaching, he always    own thoughts wherever they might                   Here, in few words, the Declaration out-
spoke as one closely attuned to the          lead.  And the result was there to be felt:        lined the faults of the Three Points of
minds and understanding of those to          that unity which had before bound our              common grace, and over against them
whom he spoke.  He always expressed          churches was crumbling, and the ten-               those principles of the Reformed faith
himself in such a way that the ordinary      sion of diverse and conflicting ideas              to which we had held from our origin.
hearer could understand and benefit          pulled at the hearts of our people.                There was no question about them.  Ev-
from what he had to say.  And that was       Clearly something had to be done; and              eryone knew what they said; but there
the idea of loci communes.  They were        the occasion arose of itself when the re-          was reason to point them out once more
the ideas or places which were held in       quest came from the mission field for a            with their confessional base.  No one
common, and thus, from which deeper          declaration as to where our churches ac-           should be left free to forget them, or to
understanding could be developed.            tually stood.  And so our Brief Declara-           conclude that these principles are sim-
    In such unity, as we saw in our last     tion of Principles was born, a clear and           ply a matter of individual eccentricity.
article, is found the essence of a Chris-    concise statement, not so much of a cov-           In fact, so convincingly had they been
tian church and a true denomination.         enant doctrine, but of the limitation              set forth that Dr. Schilder himself had
These are not just social institutions       which our confessions require of us,               come to acknowledge the validity of
which serve to bring people together.  A     briefly set forth in three concise state-          what they expressed--although whether
church is a spiritual body joined to-        ments--to which a fourth was added re-              in the same way we did has never been
gether in a common faith with a united       lating to a matter of church government.           clearly established.  And the reiteration
conviction, founded on the teachings of          The first of these looked to our ori-          of this all once again laid the founda-
the Word of God.                             gin, pointing out the familiar principles          tion for what was to follow.
    Thus our origin as Protestant Re-        upon which our churches were founded--                  From there, the Declaration went on
formed Churches had been in a common         together with ample supporting quota-              to point out an even more basic foun-
conviction as to the importance of the       tions from the confessions.  Briefly it            dation which required us to take the po-
doctrine of predestination as set forth      said  of  the  Protestant  Reformed                sition we did.  It brought to the fore the
and defended in our confessions, and         Churches:                                          theme of the Canons of Dordt, upon
particularly in the Canons of Dordt.                                                            which all who are Reformed are ex-
Through the years this doctrine had of-          I. They repudiate the errors of the            pected to stand:
ten been under attack; and in 1924 a ma-       Three Points adopted by the Synod of
jor compromise of it was set forth in the      the Christian Reformed Church of                     II. They teach on the basis of the
Three Points of common grace.  And, be-        Kalamazoo, 1924, which maintain:                   same confessions:
cause of his refusal to accept this com-                A.That there is a grace of God to              A.That election, which is the un-
                                               all men, including the reprobate, mani-            conditional and unchangeable decree
promise, Rev. Hoeksema was deposed             fest in the common gifts to all men.               of God to redeem in Christ a certain
from his office in the CRC, and with his                B.    That the preaching of the           number of persons, is the sole cause
followers formed the Protestant Re-            gospel is a gracious offer of salvation            and fountain of all our salvation,
formed Churches, joined together in            on the part of God to all that exter-              whence flow all the gifts of grace, in-
their common commitment to the dis-            nally hear the gospel.                             cluding faith.
tinctively Reformed doctrines of grace.                 C. That  the  natural  man                     B.    That Christ died only for the
It was thus in a very real, practical way      through the influence of common grace              elect and that the saving efficacy of
that our commitment to these doctrines         can do good in this world.                         the death of Christ extends to them
constituted our loci communes, without                  D.Over against this they main-            only.
                                               tain:                                                   C. That faith is not a prerequi-
which there would have been no valid                          1.    That the grace of God is      site or condition unto salvation, but a
grounds for leaving our mother church;         always particular, i.e., only for the              gift of God, and a God-given instru-
and it had continued to be so through          elect, never for the reprobate.                    ment whereby we appropriate the sal-
the early years of our existence.                             2.    That the preaching of         vation in Christ.
    But then Schilder came a second            the gospel is not a gracious offer of

208/Standard Bearer/February 1, 1998


These were the truths we had fought for            it had never been an easily accepted               point home:
from our beginning; and the point of               truth, and efforts had always been there                  III. Seeing then that this is the clear
them was to prove particularly disturb-            to hedge it in.  There was another factor            teaching of our confession,
ing to Dr. Schilder, as well as to those           brought here to the fore that was even                      A.We repudiate:
among us who were drawn to follow                  more irritating.  It pointed to the insis-                     1. The teaching:
him.  A common resentment was grow-                tence of the confessions that as election                        a. That the promise of the
ing against the idea "that election ... is           is unconditional, so must be the salva-              covenant is conditional and for all that
the sole cause and fountain of all our             tion which comes from it; and the use                are baptized.
salvation."  This lies, of course, at the          of that term unconditional  had become                           b. That we may presuppose
                                                                                                        that all the children that are baptized
heart of the Canons, as the supporting             increasingly the point of the whole de-              are regenerated, for we know on the
confessional quotations brought out; but           bate.                                                basis of Scripture, as well as in the
                                                         And so the Declaration drove its


  Contending for the Faith                                                                                      Rev. B. Woudenberg



  light of all history and experience, that the contrary is true.
             2. The teaching that the promise of the covenant is an objective bequest on the part of God, giving to every baptized child the
  right to Christ and all the blessings of salvation.
       B.      And we maintain:



                                     1. That God surely and infallibly fulfills His promise to the elect.
                                     2. The sure promise of God which He realizes in us as rational and moral
                             creatures not only makes it impossible that we should not bring forth fruits of thank-

  fulness but also confronts us with the           Neither through the means of condition-            gether.  It was that starting point at
  obligation of love, to walk in a new             ality or presupposition can this be gen-           which we had hoped to start an endur-
  and holy life, and constantly to watch           eralized to all, even when applied to              ing relationship; and it was to be re-
  unto prayer.  All those who are not              those baptized into the church.  The de-           membered as the common ground upon
  thus disposed, who do not repent but             cision as to who are finally to enter into         which future relationships would have
  walk in sin, are the objects of His just         the life of the covenant is only God's.            to be built if there was to be any hope
  wrath and excluded from the kingdom              Nevertheless, at the same time it made             of still working together as time went
  of heaven.  That the preaching comes                                                                on.
  to all; and that God seriously com-              clear that this never comes to be with-
  mands to faith and repentance; and               out the living of a godly life and fulfill-               That was it.  Not by any means a
  that to all those who come and believe           ment of covenant responsibilities.  God            spelling out of a doctrine of the cov-
  He promises life and peace.                      is not mocked, and only those who live             enant -- although we did have a very dis-
             3. That the ground of infant          a godly life shall enter into the kingdom          tinct one with which we had worked for
  baptism is the command of God and                of heaven.                                         many years, and of which we were very
  the fact that according to Scripture He                And then, finally, almost in pass-           fond -- but simply A Brief Declaration of
  established His covenant in the line of          ing, the Declaration laid down one last            Principles  which we believed were
  continued generations.                           point:                                             clearly spelled out in our confessions,
                                                                                                      and which should be observed by all
Here, so quickly, and with a clear and                   IV. Besides, the Protestant Re-              who sought to teach and influence
concise logic, the Declaration makes ap-              formed Churches: Believe and main-
                                                                                                      within  the  Protestant  Reformed
plication of the Reformed doctrine that               tain the autonomy of the local church.
                                                                                                      Churches.
God has from eternity appointed His                      This was not in itself a problem; it                And yet, there were two other
salvation for a particularly chosen                was just that it formed the one area be-           things, by way of introduction and ap-
people to the doctrine of the covenant.            tween us of real agreement.  It was that
                                                   point of church government, the misuse             plication, which should be considered.
                                                   of which had affected us both.  In the                    One was the paragraph with which
                                                   same way that we had been cast out in              the Declaration was introduced, reading:
                                                   1924, the Liberated had been cast out in             To be used only by the Mission Com-
Rev. Woudenberg is a minister emeritus in          1944; and thus it was the area in which,             mittee and the missionaries for the or-
the Protestant Reformed Churches.                  more than any other, we were drawn to-               ganization of prospective churches on
                                                                                                        the basis of Scripture and the confes-

                                                                                                              February 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/209


  sions as these have always been main-                                                         Is it true that we lacked mission
  tained in the Protestant Reformed           The Standard Bearer staff in-
                                                     vited me to contribute three           zeal in the past and struggle with it to-
  Churches and as these are now further              more articles. Rather than busy        day?
  explained in regard to certain prin-        ourselves, in these articles, with hap-
  ciples.                                     penings here in Southeast Asia, which         Mission is the Gospel for the Lost
                                              we try to cover in our regular newslet-           With this heading we focus imme-
This Declaration  arose out of a particu-     ters, I will venture into the important       diately on the difficulty. In bringing the
lar mission situation, and it was not in-     subject of zeal for missions. The spirit      gospel to anyone outside of the confines
tended to be used more broadly than           of this article is not careless and sweep-    of our established local congregations,
that.  It was on the mission field that       ing criticism of our churches' attitude       we cannot ourselves determine to whom
we had been asked repeatedly as to            toward missions, but rather a somewhat        we will direct it. Mission work, outreach
whether  the  Protestant  Reformed            careful examination of where we stand         ministry, church extension, call it what
Churches had a position on the cov-           in this important subject of true enthu-      you will, is bringing the gospel to those
enant; and its answer was only, in ef-        siasm for missions. I would like to fol-      outside of our congregation. Ultimately,
fect, that these principles laid down by      low up this article with another two, the     it is God who determines where He will
our confessions must be observed.  But        next one on the importance of viewing         send it in His good pleasure. But even
it had become more than that, for it          missions not as a luxury but a duty           though we cannot choose for ourselves
touched upon the very thing that was          which we have from none other than our        the audience, our methods will be in-
causing  deep  division  within  our          Lord Himself, and the final one on how        fluenced by our intention as to who it is
churches.  It immediately implied that        to stimulate our zeal by seizing upon         that we are trying to reach with the gos-
the covenant could not be for every           the opportunities we have and working         pel. The most obvious example of this
child baptized in the church, and could       at it as the Lord allows.                     is the way in which the message is pre-
not be conditional.  This the Declaration         All  during  the  years  of  our          pared. This applies both to the content
very clearly was designed to underline.       churches' existence, we have been ac-         of the message and to the language
    The other was that this Declaration       cused, in one way or another, of lacking      which is used in delivering that mes-
was not to be finally adopted until it        in missions. Generally this criticism has     sage. If we have in mind to include the
had been passed on for consideration to       come in two forms.  There are those who       lost (non-Christians), the message will
all of the churches.  Nothing was to be       look at our record of missions and say        focus on basics and will be written in
imposed on the churches without their         that we do very little in missions. And       simple style, including details as to the
having an opportunity to speak to it.         there are those who add, no wonder the        proper response to the good news of the
But even more, the time had come when         PRC does not do much in missions, their       gospel.
it had to be determined whether our           theology hinders them from doing mis-             Objectively speaking, and I admit
own Protestant Reformed Churches              sion work. Missionary Tom Miersma is          this subject is fraught with emotional
were all still willing to meet this crite-    busy addressing the latter in the Stan-       reactions, we can certainly conclude
ria; for it would be of no use to require     dard Bearer.  I will try to focus on the      that our churches have done very little
of others what we were not willing to         former.                                       toward bringing the gospel to the lost.
meet ourselves.  And it was at this point         My conclusion is that there is some       All we need do is survey the material
that the Declaration was to serve its         justification for the criticism that the      available and learn how unsuitable it is
greatest purpose, for it would bring out      PRC have failed in this area in the past.     for reaching the non-Christian. We have
how great the fragmentation had be-           The root cause for this is lack of mis-       many pamphlets and books on impor-
come through our contact with Dr.             sion enthusiasm.                              tant subjects concerning Christian faith-
Schilder and those that followed him.             These words are not intended in           fulness, but nothing to my knowledge
The way was to be hard and difficult,         any way to be public criticism of our         on how one may become a  Christian in
but one that had to be undertaken.   u        pastors, professors, and missionaries.        the first place. I have reflected upon our
     Mission                                  They are not written to find fault with       work in Isabel, South Dakota.  I was in-
                                              our past synodical decisions.  They are       volved to some degree in that work
                                              written more as an opportunity for self-      from the very start. While we were in
Enthusiasm, examination. In writing these words, I Hull, Iowa we were involved as a near
                                              focus first of all upon myself. My in-        church. I sat on the Mission Committee
                                              volvement as a pastor for some 37 years       dealing with Isabel. It is interesting to
        A Self-                               in local congregations, serving on de-        me now, that to my knowledge no work
                                              nominational mission committees, func-        was directed to the native American In-

    Analysis tioning as delegate to classis and synod, dians right there. There may have been
                                              means that I was no better than anyone        some local effort, but as a denomination
                                              else who reads this article. I call on my     we did not discuss how we might reach
                                              fellow church leaders to join me in ex-       them with the gospel. Did any of us pas-
                                              amining ourselves in this regards.            tors bring the gospel to Amos-Walks-

210/Standard Bearer/February 1, 1998


Quietly who lived next door to the par-      are lost in sin and have not Jesus Christ      (deny the well-meant offer of the gos-
sonage?                                      as their Savior and Lord. They are here        pel and teach the proper call of the gos-
    The point I want to raise is that it     in Singapore and by you in America,            pel), we must actually do the preach-
was not an issue of opportunity, it was      Europe, Australia, and every country           ing. This relates both to the local con-
a lack of mission consciousness and a        under the sun.                                 gregation and to the mission field. We
burden for the lost. I am ashamed be-            Our problem is not opportunity, it         must demonstrate to the church world
fore God that I personally did not carry     is rather the lack of zeal and burden for      at large that we are able not only to ar-
in my heart a burden for that man. Am        the lost. If we have a true burden, we         ticulate the call of the gospel in our un-
I the exception, or was this common          will also find a way to do missions and        derstanding and teaching, but in our
among us. If this is true among us as        have the necessary funds and man-              practice as well.  I fear that our focus
pastors, what do we expect of our            power as well. Godly zeal will move us         on defense may sometimes inhibit our
people? I look back at some of the con-      to cry to God to meet this need.               actual practice. If we can be objective
gregations in which I have served. Al-                                                      enough to take a look at ourselves, we
most every one had a member with a           Understanding Vs. Excuses                      might understand why so many over all
burden for reaching out to the lost.             In writing these words, I am not at-       these years continue to accuse our
Some suggested that we ought to have         tempting to belittle the history of our        churches of not doing mission work. It
a Vacation Bible School and invite un-       churches or ignore the contrast between        is a fact that we have done little and
churched neighbors. Others said we           Singapore and America. If I should do          are doing little to bring this precious
ought to have a prison ministry. Some        this, I would be very unfair to myself         gospel to the lost.
expressed a desire for a pamphlet they       and our churches. I have a desire that                I thank God that our understand-
could use to hand to non-Christian           someone make a careful study of our            ing of the covenant has developed as it
workers around them. In every one of         history regarding missions.  I am sure         has in our churches, homes, and schools.
these instances, I did nothing to help.      it would be a worthwhile contribution          This has demanded huge amounts of
Again, I am ashamed before God. Yes, I       to our self-analysis. Obviously, I can-        energy, money, and manpower. Our
said then, I am a pastor, I have enough      not do this in this brief article.  Neither    churches have untold blessings in this
work to do with my sheep, and it was         can I do it with my work responsibili-         area, and we can properly say to the
painfully true.  But when I examine my-      ties now. Herein lies the danger as well:      world, look at us, we practice what we
self now, I see that it also was a conve-    over-simplification of issues can do           believe in the area of God's covenant.
nient excuse not to deal with an area        more harm than good. I do not want that        This is unique, and in this way we
that I felt terribly unprepared to face      to happen, for my love for our churches        surely stand forth as a wonderful ex-
and for which I could get precious little    and the cause of the gospel among us is        ample to the church world.  It is the
help.                                        deeply written in my heart.                    envy of the Singaporeans who visit our
    Mission work is bringing the gos-            Yes, there are many factors which          churches in America. Again, as we ma-
pel to the lost. That is the heart of all    contribute to our present status regard-       ture and develop, we must not be so
mission work. I trust I don't have to        ing missions. The most obvious is that         self-focused and covenant orientated
press this point for now.  We can exam-      in our history we have had to focus on         that it becomes an obsession for all our
ine this a bit more in our next article.     church reformation. This was true in the       efforts. It is time now for us to reach
We must agree that this after all is what    beginning of our churches' existence, it       out and take others into our churches
missions is all about. The lost are ev-      continued when we had to defend it             so that they can enjoy firsthand the
erywhere, and they present themselves        from those who would take it away in           blessings God has given to us as we put
in many ways. It is most dramatic in         the 1950s. Our special place in the gen-       into practice what we believe. By the
our Singapore situation, where we live       eral church world was to defend and            grace of God there is much now that
in the midst of obvious idolatry and         develop the truth of God's sovereignty,        makes the gospel which we preach at-
heathen religions. The American scene        especially as it related to the preaching      tractive even as it is practiced among
is changing as well. Some of the lost are    of the gospel. This continues to this day      us.
the generations who have been removed        and serves as an important focus of our               The efforts to defend and advance
from the gospel by the actions of un-        attention.                                     the true understanding of the gospel
faithful parents or grandparents. They           As we ourselves mature and de-             and to put into practice the covenant
are just as lost as the Buddhist or          velop as a Reformed church (and I do           implications have taken much of our
Hindu. Some are lost when they think         not use the word mature in a deroga-           time, money, and manpower. We are a
they are Christians but are not, some-       tory way), we should see that what at          small number of churches and cannot
thing even more deceitful. Add to that       one time required much attention and           do everything. It is amazing that inter-
mixture the great influx into America        to some degree continues to demand at-         spersed in all these past activities was
of people from almost every country          tention must not cause us to lose our          mission effort as God gave us opportu-
who take with them their own native re-      balance as to the main purpose of our          nity to do it. Almost all of it was di-
ligions, and we can say we are sur-          existence. We must not only preserve           rected to other Christians and churches
rounded with all sorts of people who         the gospel preaching in its proper form        with the urgent call to embrace the truth

                                                                                                   February 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/211


as we professed it. God used this as a             These explanations must not serve          reach to the lost. We must honestly ex-
mighty testimony and, thanks be to            as an excuse not to do mission work.  I         amine ourselves to determine whether
Him, He continues to do this more and         firmly believe that God has a purpose           these considerations have been in the
more throughout the world.                    for our churches including, besides all         past and are now serving as excuses
                                              this important activity, mission out-           that we do not need to do mission work.
                                                                                              Do we include in our priority of work
  Go Ye Into All the World                                                                          Rev. Jason Kortering


which Christ has given us as churches to do, mission work among the lost? Unless we say yes to this, we fail our Lord in this
important area.

The Need for Leadership
    Enthusiasm is very subjective and almost impossible to measure. It might be more useful to ask ourselves, do our priorities
indicate lack of enthusiasm for missions. Could we be doing more work in missions without jeopardizing the important work



we are now doing already. I do not pro-       ministry.                                       would do well to allow our people vol-
pose answers to these important ques-              2. Unless we  do mission work              untarily to contribute to more mission
tions.  I only ask that we think about        among the lost, we will never learn how         projects and raise funds for some mis-
them and discuss them among our-              to do it. It is just because of this that we    sions other than through the so-called
selves. I do know that we need leader-        do not have a professor who can teach           "budget."  We could, for example, adopt
ship in this important area.                  missions from experience. Generally,            at synod a mission project in the Phil-
    1. Our seminary is lacking in teach-      seminaries use men who have served in           ippines and have the Foreign Mission
ing missions. This is no reflection upon      the mission field for some 15-20 years          Committee supervise the work there.
our present professors.  It reflects upon     and then engage in further specialized          We could approve various stages of
our circumstances. We do not have the         study in order to teach missions. The           work and approve their activity but
advantage of a special department of          missionaries we have had in the past            condition some of them upon the FMC
missions with a detailed curriculum or        served only a few years in any given            raising the necessary funds from the
a professor who is experienced in mis-        field. And some were already near re-           people. This will keep the synodical
sion work, something which is almost          tirement.  We need to get some young            budget down to manageable levels and
required. If we cannot provide thorough       man (family) involved in missions so            allow our people to contribute voluntar-
training in missions, where do we go for      that he can be considered for leadership        ily to mission work as they are able.
it? Besides this, what generates enthu-       responsibilities later on. We must think        Synod could even set some guidelines
siasm for missions among our clergy?          of missions as a calling for life, not just     how these funds can be raised.
It will come from a seminary which            another pastorate. We must look at                  4. We can work harder in our
stimulates them and challenges them to        fields as lifelong places of labor, or we       churches, homes, and schools to stimu-
consider  reaching  out to  the  lost,        will continue to make mistakes. From            late mission work. Parents, teachers, as
whether in the local congregation or the      my perspective, just when we were               well as preachers, have a wonderful op-
mission field. I never had this, and it       making some progress in Jamaica (our            portunity to encourage our children and
hurt my ministry. I wish that all our stu-    synod decided to focus on the cities and        youth to consider the lost. I am im-
dents could have what I have now in           not limit our work to the hill people,          pressed with the willingness of the
my old age. Can we do something about         something which never took place), we           youth of the church here to reach out to
this on the seminary level? I am aware        lost the will to continue. We must get          their lost friends. We pray about this at
of the activity of inviting guest lectur-     over the frustration of missions and get        catechism class and youth meetings.
ers in the area of missions, assigning the    to work. Our churches will never make           They are sensitive to this.  PRC children
reading of mission books, even intern-        progress unless we practice doing it.           have the advantage of covenant protec-
ships in mission fields.  This is going in    Too often, our sincere efforts and short-       tion. But the limitation of this for mis-
the right direction. I just encourage         comings are used as excuses not to work         sions is that the next generation of youth
more of it so that our seminary may           at all.                                         will be as introverted as we are if we
serve as a catalyst for this important             3. We could improve on the financ-         do not help them. We must address this
work as it does in the other areas of         ing of missions. Often, if any program          lack and sensitize them to have a bur-
                                              gets chopped from the synodical bud-            den for the lost. Mission programs and
                                              get, it is a mission program. Rather than       reading of mission books will help. I am
Rev. Kortering is a Protestant Reformed       bemoaning that fact, it seems to me we          glad to see that some of our schools are
minister-on-loan to Singapore.

212/Standard Bearer/February 1, 1998


working on this.  My wife and I receive                 Young People's Activities                               Minister Activities
letters from some of the students. This           The Young People's Society of our The consistory of the South Holland,
is good, and we must think of more                    Kalamazoo, MI PRC plans to host a                   IL PRC announced a new trio consist-
ways to help them learn how to have a             number of fund-raisers in the next several      ing of Revs. A. Brummel and G. VanBaren
burden for the lost and how to witness            months in order to help pay for a trip which    and Candidate D. Kleyn.  On January 7,
                                                  they are planning to take at a future date      they called Rev. VanBaren.
to them when they have opportunity.               to the mission field in Pittsburgh, PA.  The            Rev. Heys, one of our churches' emeriti
     In conclusion, I want to ask you to          first of these fund-raisers was scheduled to    ministers, remains in the Christian Rest
think of an inconsistency which creeps            be a night of praise and fellowship at          Home in Hudsonville, MI.  As I write this,
in  among  us.  We  correctly  say,               church on December 12.  The young people        he is stable but still sick with pneumonia
Arminianism is "another gospel."  We              were looking for volunteers from their con-     and very weak.  Pray for him, his family,
say that the gospel has been preached             gregation who would be willing to present       and all our emeriti ministers.    u
to almost all nations under heaven. We            a sacred song, an instrumental number,
thank God that the Reformed churches              poem, or something of that nature at that
have been part of this wonderful work.            program.
                                                       A special word of commendation has
More has been done by Arminian                                                                                WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                                                  to go out to the Senior Young People's So-
churches. As believers, convicted of the                                                                  On  February  5,  1998,  the  Lord  willing,
                                                  ciety of our Faith PRC in Jenison, MI.  This
Reformed faith, may God stir us up that                                                           our parents,
                                                  group of young people hosted, and were                  MINARD and CORA VANDEN TOP,
we increase in our labors of bringing the         the driving force behind a program on No-       will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.
gospel to the lost.                               vember 21 which featured the special needs      There is no greater blessing for a covenant
     How enthused are you? In your                children of our West Michigan churches.  I      child than to have parents who love, instruct,
opinion, are we doing enough for them?            was unable to attend that program, but          and admonish them in the fear of God's name.
u                                                 what I have heard about it makes me envy        We are grateful that God has given such par-
                                                  those who were there.  From all accounts it     ents to us, and has spared them for us these
                                                  was a very spiritual program and well
            School Activities                                                                     many  years.    They  truly  have  been  an  ex-
D                                                 worth the time and effort of parents and
     uring this past Christmas season                                                             ample of faithful perseverance in the truth to
                                                  young people alike.
     many of our schools took up special                                                          their  children  and  grandchildren.    May  God
                                                       The Young People of the Edgerton, MN
collections for various important and                                                             bless and keep them safe in the time He has
                                                  PRC hosted a Christmas Singapiration for
worthwhile outside causes.  The Student                                                           yet to give them together.
                                                  their congregation and the members of our
Council of Covenant Christian High School                                                                 "The  Lord  shall  bless thee  out  of  Zion
                                                  Hull and Doon, IA congregations on De-
in Grand Rapids, MI decided again to have                                                         and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all
                                                  cember 21.
a food drive for needy families in their                                                          the days of thy life.  Yea, thou shalt see thy
                                                        Congregational  Activities
churches.  The staff of Hope PR Christian                                                         children's  children,  and  peace  upon  Israel"
School in Grand Rapids took up a collec-          At a December 10 Congregational (Psalm 128:5, 6).
                                                       Meeting, the members of our Trinity
tion for the Books for Needy Servants Fund.                                                       c       Jerry and Karen VanDenTop
                                                  PRC in Houston, TX adopted the motion to
This  fund  has  been  set  up  for  the                                                          c       John and Judy Bouma
                                                  disband in the year 1998 unless there is a
Singapore/Myanmar Missionary cause.                                                               c       Duane and Beverly Netten
                                                  significant change in their membership in       c       Henry and Marlene VanDenTop
The students at Heritage Christian School         the coming year.  Their consistory pre-                   17 Grandchildren
in Hudsonville, MI were encouraged to give        sented this motion and now plans to bring                 7 Great Grandchildren
to a collection taken for the science pro-        the results to Classis West in March for                                                   Doon, Iowa
grams of the Hull PR Christian School and         their approval.  If indeed Trinity does dis-              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
Northwest Iowa PR Christian School.  And          band, it would be at the latest by Decem-               The Mary-Martha Society of Hope PRC
profits from a hot lunch at Thanksgiving at       ber 31 of this year.  Again your prayers are    in Redlands express their sincere sympathy
Loveland Christian School in Loveland, CO         requested and needed as Trinity faces this      to fellow member Betty Ekema and her family
were sent to Faith Christian School in            difficult prospect.                             in  the  loss  of  her  husband,  and  to  Audrey
Randolph, WI for use in their library.                 The deacons and Helping Hands Com-         VanVoorthuysen and family in the loss of her
     Of course, not all gifts around the holi-    mittee  of  the  Georgetown  PRC  in            brother-in-law,
days have to be monetary.  The students of        Hudsonville, MI coordinated a food drive                        MR. JOHN EKEMA.
two classes of Covenant Christian School          this past holiday season for needy families             May  they  find  comfort  in  these  words:
in Lynden, WA spent some time in Decem-           in their church.                                "Wait on the Lord:  be of good courage, and
ber visiting the residents of the Christian            The congregation of the First PRC in       he shall strengthen thine heart:  wait I say,
Health Care Center.  This practice of bring-      Holland, MI has given their council the go-     on the Lord" (Psalm 27:14).
ing students to the Rest Home began in            ahead to investigate the building of a par-                           Pastor A. denHartog, Pres.
1996 and will continue throughout this            sonage along with the building of their new                                    JoAnn Pastoor, Sec.
school year as well.  It seems that each          church sanctuary.                                           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
classroom takes part of one day each month             In a new church building update from               On February 12, 1998
and goes to the Rest Home to sing songs of        our Bethel PRC in Itasca, IL, we find that                MR. and MRS. MILO DEWALD
praise to God for the elderly residents, as       their council approved a perk test if needed    will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary,
well as do a hands-on activity with them,         on their new church property, and they also     D.V.
such as cookie decorating or an old-fash-         directed their building committee to secure             We thank God for them, and the instruc-
ioned spelling bee.                               the services of an architect.                   tion they have given us.  We thank God for

                                                                                                           February 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/213


preserving them these many years and pray                          Classis West of the PRC will be hosted
He will give them many more together.                         by the Trinity PRC in Houston, TX on Wednes-
     "O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is                  day, March 4, 1998 at 8:30 A.M., the Lord will-
good:  for his mercy endureth for ever" (Psalm                ing.    An  officebearers'  conference  is  also
136:1).                                                       planned for Tuesday, March 3.  All meetings
c    Randy and Julie Huizinga                                 will  be  held  at  the  J-Bar-J  Guest  Ranch  in
           Jared                                              Sealy, Texas.  All delegates or visitors in need
c    Steven and Carla Hunt                                    of  lodging  or  transportation  from  the  airport
           Jeffrey and Michelle                               should notify the clerk of Trinity's consistory,
                                         Jenison, Michigan    Mr. Ben Hopkins, 5368 Franz Rd., Katy, TX
            WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                               77493, phone:  (281) 391-2368.
     On February 13, 1998                                                     Rev. Steven Key,  Stated Clerk
            PETER and EUNICE BOER                                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.                     The  council  and  congregation  of
     We thank our heavenly Father for them,                   Grandville PRC express their Christian sym-
and for the guidance and instruction we re-                   pathy to William and Alice Joostens and fam-
ceived from them.  "Train up a child in the                   ily in the death of her father,
way he should go:  and when he is old, he                                 MR. HERMAN HOLWERDA.
will not depart from it."  We also thank our                       We pray that  they may find  comfort  in
parents for their love for each other and their               God's Word, "The Lord is righteous in all his
Christian marriage.                                           ways, and holy in all his works.  The Lord is
c    Ken and Myrna Boer                                       nigh unto all them that call upon him in truth.
c    Lewis and Janet DeJong                                   He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him:
c    Gary and Beth Visscher                                   he also will hear their cry, and will save them"
c    Dennis and Joan Boer                                     (Psalm 145:17-19).
c    Bruce and Kim Boer
c    Kel and Lisa TenBrooke                                                         Rev. A. Spriensma, Pres.
c    Geoff and Sherri Penna                                                         Cornelius R. Jonker, Clerk
c    Jason Boer                                                       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
           18 grandchildren                                        The Martha Ladies Society of Hull PRC
                                         Borculo, Michigan    express their deepest Christian sympathy to
                      NOTICE!!                                our  fellow  member,  Mrs.  Egbert  Gritters,  in
     All  students  enrolled  in  the  Protestant             the death of her mother,
Reformed  Seminary  who  will  be  in  need  of                           MRS. DOROTHY BRANDS.
financial assistance for the coming school year                    "Blessed are the dead which die in the
are  asked  to  contact  the  Student  Aid  Com-              Lord from henceforth:  Yea, saith the Spirit,
mittee  Secretary,  Mr.  Larry  Meulenberg                    that  they  may  rest  from  their  labours;  and
(Phone: 616-453-8466).  This contact should                   their  works  do  follow  them"  (Revelation
be made before the next scheduled meeting,                    14:13b).
February 16, 1998, D.V.                                                              Rev. R. Moore, President
                               Student Aid Committee                                   Karen Andringa,  Sec'y.
                     Larry Meulenberg, Secretary

                     SB INDEX!!
     Reminder:  Deadline for ordering the 2-
volume  subject/title/textual  index  to  the  73
bound volumes of the SB is the end of Febru-
ary.  (See January 1 issue for details.)
           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
     The consistory and congregation of the
Loveland PRC extend their sympathy to Elder
Robert Brands and his family in the death of
his mother,
            MRS. DOROTHY BRANDS.
May God graciously comfort and encourage
in the knowledge that death is itself the en-
trance to everlasting glory and life.  "As for
me, I will behold thy face in righteousness:  I
shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy like-
ness" (Psalm 17:15).
                         Rev. G. VanBaren, Pres.
              Warren Bonzelaar, General Adjunct
                      NOTICE!!!


214/Standard Bearer/February 1, 1998


  News From Our Churches                     Mr. Benjamin Wigger





Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant
Reformed  Church  of  Hudsonville, Michi-
gan.

                                             February 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/215


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216/Standard Bearer/February 1, 1998


