                          The
                   Standard
A Reformed         Bearer
Semi-Monthly
Magazine


                                                In This Issue:

                   Meditation -- Rev. Cornelius Hanko
                       A Name Above All Names ............................................................... 338

                   Editorial -- Prof. David J. Engelsma
                       Marriage, a Calling ........................................................................... 340

                   Bring the Parchments -- Jan Johnson
                       When a Soul Waits ........................................................................... 343

                   Marking Zion's Bulwarks -- Prof. Herman C. Hanko
                       Gnosticism and Synthesis Religion .............................................. 344

                   Day of Shadows -- Homer C. Hoeksema
                       The Setting of the Stage of History (cont.) .................................. 348

                   Search the Scriptures -- Rev. Mitchell C. Dick
                       The Secret of the Spirit ................................................................... 351

                   Taking Heed to the Doctrine -- Rev. Steven R. Key
                       Christ, Our Priest (2) ........................................................................ 353

                   Bring the Books --
                       John Calvin on Singing Psalms in Church .................................. 355
                       Basil the Great on Psalm Singing .................................................. 356

                   Ministering to the Saints -- Prof. Robert D. Decker
                       The Reconciliation of Excommunicated Sinners ........................ 357

                   News From Our Churches -- Mr. Benjamin Wigger ............................... 359





Vol. 74, No. 15
May 1, 1998


   Meditation                                                                                                                               Rev. Cornelius Hanko




                           A Name Above All Names


                                                   Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name
                                           which is above every name:  that in the name of Jesus every knee should
                                           bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the
                                           earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
                                           the glory of God the Father.
                                                                                                                             Philippians 2:9-11


                                                                  straw-filled manger in the shelter                                        Our Lord knew no luxury.  Dur-
Christ humbled Himself.                                           behind the inn, where the donkeys                                ing His public ministry He did not
       The  Son  of  God,  who  is  the                           of the guests were kept.                                         as much as own a home or a don-
only, eternal, holy, righteous, ever                                     Even as a child of twelve Jesus                           key.    Even  the  clothing  He  wore
blessed,  glorious,  adorable  God,                               spoke with the theologians of His                                was  donated  to  Him.    He  sur-
chose  for  Himself  an  earthly                                  day, yet they did not consider Him                               rounded Himself with disciples, not
mother.    She  was  an  ordinary,                                a  smart  aleck,  a  show-off,  but                              from  the  elite  of  the  people,  but
lowly virgin from the small city of                               rather were amazed at His humble,                                twelve men who were taken from
Nazareth in despised Galilee.  For                                yet  profound  questions  and  His                               their daily occupations.  They spent
His birthplace He did not prepare                                 sound answers.  He grew up like                                  as much time as possible away from
Himself an attractive room in a pal-                              any other child among His broth-                                 their  families  to  follow  and  be
ace  or  in  some  high  estate;  but                             ers  and  sisters,  yet  without  ever                           taught by Him.
rather He chose for Himself a cattle                              committing  a  single  sin.    It  must                                   He wore no halo over His head,
stall,  possibly  a  vacant  stall  and                           have filled them with amazement                                  nor did He come with a dignified
                                                                  that He could live among sinners                                 bearing that kept people aloof from
                                                                  and never make Himself guilty of                                 Him.  The common people enjoyed
                                                                  sin.  He was subject to His parents                              listening to Him,  for He spoke  to
                                                                  and increased in wisdom and stat-                                them with authority, yet in a man-
Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in the                          ure,  and  in  favor  both  with  God                            ner  which  they  could  readily  un-
Protestant Reformed Churches.                                     and men.                                                         derstand.    He  took  babies  on  His



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338/Standard Bearer/May 1, 1998


lap,  and  little  children  readily       be  examined  by  Annas  and  by            Himself  unto  death  to  bear  our
clung to Him.                              Caiaphas and the  Sanhedrin.  He            curse,  God  raised  Him  from  the
    He healed the sick.  He caused         forced them to admit that the only          dead  and  brought  Him  to  glory!
the  blind  to  see  and  the  deaf  to    charge they could find against Him          He was wounded for our transgres-
hear.  He touched and cleansed lep-        was  that  He  confessed  the  truth,       sions.  He was raised for our righ-
ers  and  raised  the  dead.    Devils     that He was indeed the Son of God.          teousness.
were forced to obey Him.  Sinners          And there upon He allowed them                     He received a name above all
came to Him to weep at His feet            to heap insults upon Him and  to            names.  Jesus, who humbled Him-
and to find solace for their souls.        condemn Him to death.                       self as the poorest of the poor and
Yes, He rested at times in the rather          He stood in majestic silence be-        the lowliest of the lowly, who bore
spacious  home  of  Mary,  Martha,         fore  Pontius  Pilate,  so  that  Pilate    the reproach and hatred of sinful
and  Lazarus,  since  He  needed  a        feared Him.  He forced the gover-           men, who faced all the onslaughts
place like that to find shelter and        nor to admit that he was deliver-           of Satan, and suffered the wrath of
food  for  Himself  and  His  twelve       ing an innocent man into the                        God in torments of hell, is ex-
disciples.  As much as He disliked         hands of His enemies to be                             alted as Lord over all.  The
doing so, He did accept an invita-         crucified, but He allowed           Jesus, who           Son  of  God  in  our  flesh
tion  to  be  a  guest  of  Simon  the     the  soldiers  to  spit upon         humbled             was raised from the dead
Pharisee, who looked at Him with           Him,  buffet,  and  mock          Himself as the          and exalted with a name
suspicion  throughout  the  entire         Him.                                  poorest             above  all  names.    Well
meal.                                          The sinless Jesus sur-          of the poor           may we cry out, "Truly,
    He became very angry with the          rendered  Himself  to  be        and the lowliest         what is man or the son
self-righteous  Pharisees,  accused        led out and to be nailed           of the lowly,           of man that Thou God
them of being whitewashed sepul-           to  the  cross,  to  be  sus-        who bore              dost regard him?  Thou
chers, but did not use His divine          pended between heaven              the reproach            hast  made  him  a  little
power to punish them.  No, even            and  earth  as  one  not            and hatred             lower  than  the  angels,
when He in anger drove the buy-            worthy  of  heaven  or            of sinful men,           Thou hast crowned him
ers and sellers out of the house of        even fit to be among the          who faced all            with glory and honor!"
God  He  did  not  call  fire  from        inhabitants of the earth.         the onslaughts                Even as a name ex-
heaven, but used a whip to assert          He  gave  Himself  unto              of Satan,             presses  power  or  au-
His authority.                             death,  to  the  horrible          and suffered           thority,  so  Christ  re-
    He was so completely the Ser-          darkness and isolation of        the wrath of God         ceived a name far above
vant who came to do the Father's           separation from His God.            in torments           every power and author-
will that He emptied Himself, as it        Up  to  this  time  He  was           of hell,           ity  in  heaven,  on  earth,
were, of His divine power, as far          able to suffer in anticipa-          is exalted          and under the earth.
as His own person was concerned.           tion  of  the  glory  that            as Lord                   The Christ, our Re-
In all His ministry He never used          would  follow,  but  in  the          over all.         deemer, Savior, and Lord,
His divine power for His personal          agony of hellish torment He                           arose  from  the  grave,  and
advantage.  At the beginning of His        could  not  even  see  the  goal,  the      forty  days  later,  accompanied  by
ministry when He hungered in the           purpose of it all.  He could but cry        myriads of angels, ascended to the
wilderness  He could have changed          out:    "My  God,  My  God,  why,           highest heavens.  As a reward on
stones  into  bread  to  satisfy  His      where to, hast Thou forsaken Me?"           His accomplished work, all power
craving  hunger,  and  at  the  same           God heard His cry and deliv-            is entrusted to Him in heaven and
time to show the devil His divine          ered Him. The obedient Son in our           on earth.
power, but He refused.  He could           flesh surrendered Himself to physi-                He is Lord over the angels.  The
have leaped from the temple tower,         cal  death  and  the  grave  to  rise       angelic  host  that  had  been  dis-
and angels would have come at His          again on the third day as Victor of         rupted  through  the  fall  and  the
beck and call to save Him before           Satan,  sin,  death,  hell,  and  the       casting out of Satan and his follow-
the  eyes  of  an  amazed  audience.       grave!    That  was  the  mind  of          ers  is  united  with  Christ  as  their
But He had no intention of using           Christ!                                     Lord, a perfectly organized angel
His divine power to His own ad-                                                        host.  All the angels await the bid-
vantage.                                              333    333    333                ding  and  carry  out  the  orders  of
    In fact, when the time came for                                                    Lord Jesus both in heaven and on
Him to die, He gave Himself into               Wherefore....                             earth.  They are more involved in
the hands of His enemies, allowed              God  also  hath  highly  exalted        our lives than we can ever realize.
Himself to be bound and led away.          Him, and given Him a name above                    Christ  is  Lord  over  the  devil
God ... bound and led away like a          all  names.    Because  He  was  the        and  demons  of  hell.    Although
criminal.   He  allowed  Himself  to       obedient Servant, who surrendered           these powers of darkness vainly at-

                                                                                                   May 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/339


tempt  to  wipe  out  God's  cause          tion, the joy of the whole earth is          with Christ Jesus they will all live
from the face of the earth, they, in        mount Zion, the city of the great            in intimate communion of life with
spite of themselves, must carry out         King!  Glorious things of thee are           God to reflect His glory with their
the counsel of God with the power           spoken,  city  blessed  of  God  the         whole being!
allotted  to  them  by  the  exalted        Lord!  For all things are yours, and             There  the  myriads  of  angels
Christ  for  the  welfare  of  God's        ye  are  Christ's,  and  Christ  is          will  serve  them  in  their  worship
church.                                     God's!"                                      and adoration, and the entire new
    The  Lord  of  glory  carries  out          For  Christ  reigns  out  of  Zion       creation  will  be  united  in  perfect
His supreme authority over all the          for  the  welfare  of  the  saints,  the     harmony  to  show  forth  the  glory
vast creation.  The sun in its rising       gathering  of  God's  church,  the           of our God.
and setting, the stars of heaven in         coming  of  His  kingdom  and  the
their  courses,  rain  and  sunshine,       glory of God's name!                                333    333    333
springtime  and  harvest,  fruitful             O  Lord,  our  Lord,  how  glori-
and unfruitful years, sickness and          ous is Thy name over all the earth!              The time draws near.  Two mil-
health--all are the work of God in                                                        lenniums  ago  the  world  cast  out
Christ Jesus.  Nothing befalls us in                333    333    333                    the Christ of God.  Since that time
this  vale  of  tears  but  that  which                                                  the measure of iniquity is steadily,
promotes the salvation of our souls             Every knee must bow and ev-              now even rapidly, filling up.
because Jesus is Lord over all.             ery tongue must confess that He is               God is not in all their thoughts.
    Even  the  counsels  of  wicked         Lord to the glory of the Father!             His laws are violently and deliber-
men  are  directed  by  the  Lord  of           The  powers  of  darkness  have          ately  trodden  under  foot.    The
glory to serve for the salvation of         but a little while before they will          church  is  despised.    Heresy
the  church.    Wars  and  rumors of        be cast into the lake of fire.  There        abounds.  Corruption fills the high
war, the rise and fall of rulers and        while  gnashing  their  teeth  and           places,  the  holy  marriage  state  is
empires.    The  persecution  of  the       gnawing their tongues they will be           made  a mockery, abortions, mur-
saints, and  even the heresies and          forced to admit, even reluctantly,           ders, rapes, robberies, drug addic-
evils that arise within the  church         that Christ is Lord, the Lord whom           tions,  drinking,  horrible  crimes
must  serve  their  eternally  ap-          they rejected.                               committed  even  among  children
pointed purpose.                                We expect a new heaven and a             are reported by the news media.
    All things have been created by         new earth in which that grand mul-               The measure is nearly full.  The
Him, and also all things were cre-          titude that no man can number will           world destroys itself with its own
ated  for Him, and He is the Head           live and reign with Christ, each de-         corruption.    The  church  is  being
of  the  church,  our  Lord  Jesus          voting his or her life according to          gathered,  purged,  preserved,  and
Christ!                                     each one's unique name and place             prepared for glory!  Our salvation
    We hear the sweet singer of Is-         to the glory of the Father.  As one          draws  near.    Christ  is  coming  to
rael  saying:    "Beautiful  for  situa-                                                 the glory of the Father!    u

  Editorial



                           Marriage, a Calling

                                                As to how the people of God              commanded to serve God in mar-
As to its nature--what it es- are to regard marriage, and their ried life.  Their happiness and ful-
           sentially  is--marriage  is  a    life in it, marriage is a calling.  It is    fillment are secondary.  The only
           lifelong, unbreakable bond       not an institution and way of life           happiness and fulfillment that are
established by God the Creator be-          that is intended primarily for their         of real importance are the happi-
tween  one  man  and  one  woman            pleasure, comfort, happiness, and            ness and fulfillment that believers
(see "Marriage:  a Lifelong Bond,"          fulfillment.  Marriage  is  intended         have from serving God acceptably
in  the  Standard  Bearer,  April  15,      for  the  glory  of  God.    Believing       in  marriage.    This  happiness  and
1998).                                      men and women are privileged and             fulfillment  they  can--and  must --

340/Standard Bearer/May 1, 1998


have, regardless of their happiness,          or a shrew; whether the marriage              the  Chicago  Tribune  ("Promise
or  lack  of  it,  with  their  marriage      is a delightsome life that is ended           tweakers:    Why  today's  wedding
companion.                                    all too quickly, or a burden heavy            vows  are  meaningless")  com-
        That marriage is an earthly or-       to be borne until God finally grants          plained about this very thing.
dinance  in  which  the  Christian            relief in death.  The circumstances
works out his salvation by serving            of marriage are unimportant, just                 To  understand  why  the  United
God as God requires in His Word               as it is not important whether one                States has the highest divorce rate
is  the  teaching  of  the  apostle  in       is a Jew or a Gentile, slave or free,             in the world, go to some weddings
I Corinthians 7.  This is one of the          rich or poor, weeping or rejoicing                and listen to the vows. ...  A grow-
outstanding passages in Scripture             (I Cor. 7:18ff.).                                 ing  number  of  couples--perhaps
                                                                                                most--compose  their  own  vows.
on  marriage.    The  instruction  is             The one important thing about                 It would be hard to exaggerate the
practical.  But underlying the pas-           marriage  is  "the  keeping  of  the              symbolic importance of this shift.
sage and its practical instruction is         commandments of God" (v. 19).                     The old vows were created by so-
the truth that marriage is a calling.             For believing young people, re-               ciety and presented to the couple,
At a crucial juncture in his teach-           garding marriage as a calling will                signifying the goal of conforming
ing  on  marriage,  the  apostle  de-         mean that they marry.  God com-                   the couple to marriage.  The new
clares, concerning marriage, "But as          mands them to marry, and sooner                   vows  are  created  by  the  couple
God hath distributed to every man,            rather than later.  Unless they have              and presented to society, signify-
as the Lord hath called every one,            the gift of continence and have re-               ing  the  goal  of conforming  mar-
                                                                                                riage to the couple.
so let him walk.  And so ordain I             solved  to  remain  single  in  order
in  all  churches"  (v.  17).    A  little    more devotedly to serve the Lord,                     The  editorialist  correctly  ob-
later, with reference to one's race           they are to marry, in order to avoid          serves that by thus trivializing the
and nationality, one's occupation,            fornication (I Cor. 7:1ff.).  Since the       marriage vow society is disparag-
and one's social status, as well as           young men must take the initiative,           ing  marriage  and  exalting  the
one's marital state, he says, " Breth-        they  must  consider  themselves              couple.  He asks, "Who is to blame
ren, let every man, wherein he is             duty-bound to seek wives among                for  this  transformation  of  the
called, therein abide with God" (v.           the  young  women  in  the  church,           vow?"  His answer is:
24).                                          thus providing their spiritual sis-
        Marriage  for  Christians  is  a      ters with the husbands whom they                  I suggest that we blame the clergy.
"vocation."  The effectual, saving            are commanded  to marry.   There                  Many  pastors  have  become  little
call  of  the  gospel  not  only  gives       should be more of this seriousness                more  than entertainers,  bit  play-
elect  believers  salvation,  but  also       in  dating  and  deciding  to  marry,             ers, in the weddings they officiate
commands and empowers most of                 and  less  of  the  quest  for  an                     and  in  the  marriages  they
them to be servants of God in His             emotional "falling in love."                               launch....    What  matters
holy institution of marriage.                     When  the  young                      When              most about the wedding
        This is what professing Chris-        people marry, they must                                     is increasingly overshad-
                                                                                      a believer
tians  ignore  today.    This  is  what       enter  marriage  as  a  dis-                                 owed.    The  party  gets
                                                                              regards his or her           bigger;  the  embrace  of
their  supposedly  Reformed  and              tinct, divine calling.  Par-            marriage             the marital promise gets
evangelical churches allow them to            ents  and  church  must         as a divine calling,         smaller.  What is to be
ignore.    They  view  marriage  as           have  taught  them  this               the earthly           done?    First,  pastors
merely an arrangement of human                from  childhood.    The            circumstances             should reclaim the  his-
life  for  their pleasure  and  conve-        minister  who  marries           of the marriage             toric  responsibility  to
nience.  When it suits them, they             them must give them this                are of no            promulgate  and  main-
get  married,  and  only  because  it         counsel.    In  the  solemn             ultimate             tain the integrity of the
suits  them.    When  they  find  that        setting  of  the  Reformed                                  marriage      vows      ex-
                                                                                    importance....
their marriage does not please and            marriage ceremony, the tra-                                 changed       in       their
                                                                                                       churches.    Central  to  this
satisfy, they divorce and remarry.            ditional, biblical vow must hold                    reclamation would be the revival
They  are  sure  to  leave,  if  they         the calling before the couple.  It is             of the vow of marital permanence.
should have to suffer in their mar-           inexcusable  that  ministers  allow
riage.                                        the  couple  to  create  their  own           Our  ministers  must  insist  on  the
        When a believer regards his or        vows, especially when those vows              traditional vow.  If the couple re-
her marriage as a divine calling, the         fail to reflect the fundamental bib-          sist, the minister should tell them
earthly circumstances of the mar-             lical duties of love on the part of           to  find  someone  else  to  marry
riage  are  of  no  ultimate  impor-          the  husband,  submission  on  the            them.
tance,  whether  her  husband  is  a          part of the wife, and mutual faith-                   Then the message at the wed-
good  man  or  a  fool  like  Nabal;          fulness until death parts them.               ding ceremony must not center on
whether his wife is a lovely woman                A December, 1997 editorial in             the couple's happiness, their love

                                                                                                         May 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/341


for each other as no two have ever          she or he repents.  Even though the               nothing to do with the power and
loved  each  other  before,  and  a         sin  has  so  deeply  and  painfully              pride of the male, as it has nothing
(mythical)  life  of  uninterrupted         hurt them that they are inclined to               to do with her own natural incli-
bliss  before  them.    The  message        divorce (as they have a right to do),             nation or disinclination.  Her mar-
must be the Word of God setting             knowledge  that  their  marriage  is              riage is a calling, and in this call-
before them and before all in the           above  all  a  calling  directs  them             ing the God whom she serves wills
audience the all-important reality,         along the way of reconciliation.                  her submission.
that marriage is a calling.  This in-           The  truth  that  marriage  is  a                 Carrying out these basic com-
cludes  the  recognition  that  there       calling,  however,  does  not  only               mands  for  God's  sake,  Christian
will  be  troubles  in  married  life.      function  practically  in  circum-                husbands  and  wives  will  experi-
Wisely,  the  Reformed  marriage            stances of marital distress.  Its main            ence a great deal of bliss in mar-
form begins by assuring the couple          effect is not that believers decline              riage--bliss  in  their  own  relation-
of God's assistance of them in their        to divorce.  Rather, it produces the              ship--as God blesses those who fear
afflictions.  This is based squarely        fruit that married believers live to-             and serve Him.
on  the  apostle's  teaching  that  all     gether daily in the right way.  Liv-                  For  some  in  the  church,  God
married saints "shall have trouble          ing  in  marriage  as  a  calling,  the           prevents  and  prohibits  marriage.
in the flesh" (I Cor. 7:28).  To leave      husband exerts himself to love                       By governing the circumstances
this  out  at  a  marriage  ceremony,       his wife as Christ loved the                             of  their  lives,  God  makes
probably  because  this  "gloomy            church  and  gave  Himself                 The            marriage  impossible  for
note" does not harmonize with the           for  her  (Eph.  5:25-29).         lovableness            some  who  would  like  to
pretty flowers, lovely dresses, and         Love for the wife is a com-       of the woman             marry.  Others He forbids
sentimental mood, is foolish.               mand  from  Christ  Jesus          may make it             to marry, e.g., the woman
    Because marriage is a calling,          his Lord.  The lovableness        easier to obey           who  is  divorced  because
believers stick it out in a bad mar-        of the woman may make             the command              her  husband  is  guilty  of
riage.  They do more than stick it          it easier to obey the com-        in some cases            fornication  (I  Cor.  7:10,
out.    They  exert  themselves,  on        mand in some cases than           than in others,          11).    Such  are  to  receive
their  part,  to  live  as  Christ  com-    in  others,  but  the  com-          but the               their single life from God
mands them to live in marriage, re-         mand has nothing to do              command                as a calling.  Willingly, joy-
gardless of their miserable wife or         with  her  lovableness.            has nothing            fully, they are to serve God
husband.  There are bad marriages           Neither does it have any-             to do               as  single  persons.    They
in the church.  One cannot be a pas-        thing  to  do  with  the             with her             must guard against resent-
tor  in  the  church  for  many  years      husband's  feelings  of  love,     lovableness.          ment  and  bitterness.    Dis-
and remain ignorant of this.  There         or lack thereof.                                       content in single life is rebel-
are husbands who are unloving to-               Love  for  the  wife  is  a  com-             lion against God whose calling this
ward  their  wife.    It  breaks  your      mand.  It has everything to do with               is for the single person.
heart to see their coldness, unkind-        marriage's being a calling.  There                    It is also foolish.  For marriage
ness,  and  harshness  toward  their        is simply no place in the Christian               itself or single life is of no ultimate
own body.  There are wives who              life or in the church, therefore, for             importance.  That is why married
are  little  or  no help  to their  hus-    the mournful words, "I no longer                  people  are  to  have  their  wife  or
band.    Brawling,  sharp-tongued           love my  wife."    Usually  the  man              husband  as  though  they  did  not
women,  they  make  you  cringe             who utters them supposes that they                have them (I Cor. 7:29).  Only one
when they contradict, criticize, and        express a ground for divorce that                 thing matters:  living obediently in
demean  their  head.    The  believer       cannot  be  challenged.    But  his               our calling.
in such a marriage does not,  may           words are irrelevant.  The proper                       This  is  the  only  thing  that
not, cut and run.  It lives in his or       response to them is, "So what?"  If               will matter one day when each of
her soul, "Abide in the calling in          they mean anything at all, they are               us gives account of his or her life
which you are called."                      a confession of sin, as though one                in  marriage  to  Christ  the  judge.
    So much is it the case that be-         would say, "I robbed a bank yes-                  How much or how little happiness
lievers are cheerfully to remain in         terday."  The man must be urged                   we had will not even come up.  The
a bad marriage that the believer is         to repent of his damnable sin and                 question from the tribunal will be,
commanded to maintain a marriage            to start loving his wife again.  The              "Did you fulfill your calling?"
with an unbeliever (I Cor. 7:13, 14).       grace of God will enable him to do                    With eternal consequences.   u
    The  sense  of  calling  will  in       it, if only he will seek it.                                                      --DJE
many cases move the husband or                  The  godly  wife  is  similarly
wife  whose  marriage  companion            commanded to reverence and sub-
has  committed  fornication  to  re-        mit  to  her  husband,  as  a  help  to
ceive the unfaithful party back, if         him  (Eph.  5:22-24,  33).    This  has

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     Bring the Parchments                                                                                   Jan Johnson




                          When a Soul Waits*

                                             had grown within me since child-            going to do about me now that no
                                             hood and I became accountable for           one loved me?
                                             my critical behavior.                           One by one, avenues of God's
As the clock struck midnight,
          all the couples at the New
          Year's Eve party kissed, ex-           During  the  next  two  years,  I       love made  Him  more  real  to  me.
cept  Greg  and  me.    Finally,  my         changed dramatically.  Still, Greg's        My  support  demonstrated  God's
friend said, "Come on, Greg, give            heart did not  change,  except that         unrelented  love  each  time  I  con-
your  wife  a  kiss."   So Greg  gave        he felt nothing instead of hatred.  I       fessed  my  fierce  anger  to  the
me a token peck.  I trembled at this         felt even more alone.  I could imag-        group.    I  looked  up  expecting  to
first physical contact in years but I        ine how I looked from miles out in          see condemning faces, but in stead
tried to act as  if it were nothing.         the atmosphere:  one person com-            I  saw  gentle  smiles  and  nodding
After all, it was nothing but a so-          pletely alone casting a long shadow         heads accepting me and my rage.
cially conventional behavior forced          behind myself.  It was just God and         Their faces became the loving face
by circumstances.                            me now.  I berated myself; I cried          of God for me so that I muttered
      Three  years  before,  my  hus-        many times a day; I stared at on-           Romans  5:3  many  times  a  day:
band  Greg told me that he  hated            coming trains at railroad crossings         "While we were yet sinners, Christ
me and planned to leave.  I sat qui-         and imagined pulling out in front           died  for  us."    I  began  to  believe
etly as he listed for me the offenses        of the engine.                              that God loved me as much on the
I had committed.  At one point, he               Greg didn't have the energy to          days I hated myself as He did on
produced a list of 10 criticisms I'd         leave, he said.  He thought I would,        the  days  when  I  was  cheery  and
launched on him within one hour              but I couldn't because I wanted to          sweet.
before  work  one  morning.    I             stand before God on judgment day                In solitude, I cried out to God.
couldn't  defend  myself.    He  was         with my marriage intact.  Part of           I  walked  in  a  nearby  cemetery,
right.                                       that was a desire to obey God and           screaming out those painful, unex-
      I asked Greg to forgive me and         another part was pride.  I felt like        plainable  Psalms  in  which  David
I worked very hard to change.  I             such  a  second-class  Christian  for       groaned in the night and drowned
read  self-help  books,  held  in  my        having  a  dead  marriage.    I  also       his bed with tears.  I lay down next
anger till my eyes crossed, and fi-          wanted to save my kids from the             to tombstones and grieved for God
nally  landed  in  a  support  group.        pain of divorce--and I stayed be-            to come inside me and convince ev-
There I talked about the rage that           cause I loved Greg.  I didn't real-         ery cell in my body that He loved
                                             ize until the day he confronted me          me.  I cried in the shower leaning
                                             what a patient, generous person he          against the wall tiles, asking God
                                             was, and I was charmed by him.              to rescue me from my regret, self-
                                                                                         pity, and self-hate.  Little by little,
*     One  need  not  agree  with  every     Fearing abandonment                         I began to believe that God loved
sentiment in this article, "When a Soul          My darkest reason for staying           me  in  my  ugliest  moments  and
Waits," to appreciate that it illustrates    was  that  I  feared  abandonment.          walked with me each minute.
the conviction that marriage is a call-      Having someone who didn't notice
ing.  The power of the article is that it    me was better than having no one            Surrendering dreams
demonstrates that this conviction can        at all.  I wasn't sure I could get up           In the safety of these moments,
be, and was, lived, in adverse circum-       in the morning without someone to           I  faced  the  fact  that  Greg's  heart
stances.  The article first appeared in      lean  on.    I  felt  jealous  of  other    might  never  change.    Over  and
the June 27, 1997 issue of  Christian        couples who argued a lot, but still         over I surrendered my dreams of
Courier.  It is reprinted here with per-     loved  each  other.    We  never  ar-       reconciliation.  With God's love as
mission.  --Ed.                               gued, we never loved.  What was I           the only basis for my self-worth, I

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decided I could face living the rest         would say they were wasted years,            said, "Are you sure?"
of my life in a relationship where I         but even marriages that offer little             My story cannot be reduced to
was not loved.  I could be obedi-            to brag about can be of great value.         a formula.  I never viewed my will-
ent to God  and  stay in that mar-           We  helped  and  respected  each             ingness to wait as a way of earn-
riage with no guarantee that any-            other like brother and sister.  We           ing Greg's love back.  It could have
thing would ever improve.  Occa-             loved  our  children.    We  reached         gone the other way.  We were both
sionally I got on my high horse ("I          out to friends and neighbors.  My            ripe for affairs and that's what usu-
deserved something better!"), but            imperfect  marriage  did  not  make          ally happens in these cases.
one day I wrote, "I have changed             me a hopeless and unworthy Chris-                Only by God's grace did I un-
to please you, God, not Greg.  Even          tian.                                        derstand that I had expected Greg
if he never changes, I'll still be glad                                                   to meet the inner needs only God
you changed me."                             Imperceptible road                           could meet.  Greg couldn't give me
    As I sensed God's companion-             to reconciliation                            the unrelenting attention I needed;
ship,  I  took  delight  in  giving  to          Those years of dry desert gave           he couldn't assure me that I was a
Greg without trying to change his            Greg  room  to  work  through  his           valuable person; he couldn't wash
mind or make him like me again.              feelings so he could learn to enjoy          away my mistakes.  Only God can
It was a grand experience to try to          the person I had become.  We eased           do  those  things.    In  the  rawest
love someone and leave their free-           into reconciliation so slowly that I         edges of life, I find the courage to
dom intact.                                  didn't know it was happening.  Fi-           face  each  day  as  I  believe  in  my
    In this waiting room of surren-          nally,  one  day  on  the  telephone         heart that God loves me no matter
der we sat for several years.  Some          Greg said, "I love you," just before         what.   u
                                             he  hung  up.    Stunned,  I  almost


  Marking Zion's Bulwarks                                                                       Prof. Herman Hanko


               Gnosticism and Synthesis
                                                 Religion

                                             ment  than  a  departure  from  the          his  epistle  to  the  Colossians;  and
                                             truth on one specific point.  It never       the  apostle  John  apparently  had
Introduction                                 resulted  in  a  split  of  any  signifi-    some early form of Gnosticism in
                                             cance in the church, nor were those          mind in his first epistle.
                                             who held this error of one united                Its teachings are difficult to un-
There was a heresy in the early
       church which was so serious,
       so deadly, and yet so attrac-         party.    As  a  movement  it  could,        derstand  and  do  not  make  much
tive that the church was engaged             perhaps,  be  compared  with  the            sense to our more modern minds.
in a life or death struggle to over-         "feminist  movement,"  which  is             But the deviltry which it set about
come it.                                     found  in  many  denominations,              doing is easy to understand.  Gnos-
    That  heresy  was  known  as             which has its own theory about the           ticism was interested in a synthe-
Gnosticism.                                  place  of  women  in  society,  and          sis  religion.    That  is,  Gnosticism
    It  was  a  heresy  which  had           which presses its own agenda.  But           vigorously promoted the idea that
many variations and was taught by            one would never call "feminism" a            the one true religion is a religion
many  different  heretics  in  the           separate church.  So with Gnosti-            which takes the best elements out
church.  It was more like a move-            cism.                                        of  Christianity,  the  old  Judaism,
                                                 Early forms of its teaching can          Greek  philosophy,  and  Oriental
                                             be found in  the apostolic church.           mystical religions and puts them all
                                             It seems as if it was present espe-          together  into  one  religion  which
                                             cially  in  the  churches  of  western       everyone is able to accept.
Prof. Hanko is professor of Church His-      Asia  Minor.    Paul  warns  against             So, while Gnosticism is a very
tory  and  New Testament  in  the Protes-
tant Reformed Seminary.                      some early forms of Gnosticism in            old heresy, it is also very new.  In

344/Standard Bearer/May 1, 1998


a  book  recently  published  (The        noisy with the babble of many lan-                But such was nevertheless the
Gnostic Empire Strikes Back, by Pe-       guages  spoken  by  its  traders;  a          case.
ter Jones) the New Age Movement           meeting place of different cultures,              In general, Gnosticism was "a
of our modern times is compared           religions, and races; and a bubbling          stealing of some Christian rags to
to the ancient Gnostic movement.          cauldron of clashing ideas and phi-           cover  the  nakedness  of  the  hea-
In fact, the title of the book indi-      losophies.    It  was  the  one  place        then."  It taught that God was the
cates this, and the sub-title reads:      where one would expect a heresy               great unknowable One, more like
"An Old Heresy for the New Age."          like Gnosticism to emerge.                    the  Mohammedan  Allah  than  the
It is short, but worth reading.  And              Among  the  inhabitants  of  Al-      triune God of the Scriptures: cold,
it is only one among many.                exandria  were  Jews.    In  fact,  the       impersonal, pure being.
                                          LXX (the Greek translation of the                 The  great  question  of  Gnosti-
Leaders                                   Old Testament) had been prepared              cism  was  how  the  creation  came
    Because  Gnosticism  was  a           there  before  the  birth  of  Christ.        into existence.  This was indeed a
movement  and  not  a  heresy  pro-       Christians were also present in the           puzzling question because Gnosti-
moted by just one man or by a few         city, and the great Athanasius, the           cism  taught  that  the  "matter"  of
men who worked together, the her-         defender  of  the  divinity  of  our          which the creation was made was
esy  also  had  many  different  pro-     Lord,  was  bishop  of  the  church           inherently evil, was, in fact, itself
ponents.  And they differed widely        there some 150 years later.                   evil.    To  overcome  this  problem,
from  each  other  in  their  views.              Valentinus  went  to  Rome            Gnosticism  taught  that  from  God
Their differences were, in fact, so       around  A.D.  140  and  may  have             proceeded a long chain of emanat-
great that they represented differ-       stayed  there  till  165.    He  was  in      ing aeons which themselves were
ent  kinds  of  Gnosticism.    Those,     Rome for some time, but went from             divine creatures (sometimes iden-
e.g.,  who  emphasized  Judaistic         Rome to Cyprus.  Up to this point             tified with God's virtues), each pro-
ideas were called Jewish Gnostics;        no one had had any reason to ques-            ceeding from another, each weaker
those who were more under the in-         tion  his  orthodoxy,  but  while  in         than its parent.
fluence of pagan and Oriental reli-       Cyprus  he  revealed  his  hatred  of             The  church  father  Iranaeus,
gions were called Pagan Gnostics;         the church and became the leader              who fought fiercely against Gnos-
and those who tended to stress the        of a heretical sect.                          ticism, says that "the thirtieth and
truths  of  Christianity  were  called            He  was  a  man  of  great  intel-    last of the aeons, wisdom, fell from
Christian Gnostics.                       lectual  ability  and  vast  oratorical       the perfection of the pleroma (God)
    For this reason it is impossible      powers.    In  fact,  one  story  of  an      through  an  excess  of  passion,  fi-
in this sketch to offer biographies       early  church  father  says  that  his        nally  giving  birth  to  a  shapeless
of all the leaders; and, as a matter      path to heresy was paved by dis-              mass.  Hence, [creation] had its be-
of fact, not much is known of any         appointed  ambition,  for  he  had            ginning from [wisdom's] ignorance
of them.                                  hoped to be chosen bishop of the              and grief, and fear and bewilder-
    Valentinus  was  perhaps  the         church  in  Rome,  but  had  been             ment."
best known and most famous of all         passed  over  in  favor of  a  confes-            The  last  aeon,  therefore,  was
the Gnostics.  But even his birth-        sor.                                          one "who, while powerful enough
place  and  origin  are  lost  in  the            Nothing more is known of him,         to create, was silly enough not to
murky past.  What is known of him         and  even  these  scraps  are  more           see that creation was wrong."  This
is learned from others and cannot,        than  is  known  of  most  men  who           aeon  was  sometimes  called  the
therefore, always be proved.  But         assumed leadership in the Gnostic             demiurge,  and  was  identified  ei-
these facts concerning his life seem      movement.                                     ther with the "logos" of John 1 or
to emerge.                                                                              the God of the Old Testament.  In
    He  was  an  Egyptian  and  had       Teachings                                     any  case,  this  demiurge,  respon-
been trained in Alexandria, Egypt's               It is not possible nor is it nec-     sible for creation, was, because of
most important city.                      essary to give a complete sketch of           its own foolishness, imprisoned in
    This in itself is significant, for    the teachings of Gnosticism in such           the  creation  and  needed  redemp-
Alexandria was, by virtue of its lo-      a short article.  Nor would we be             tion.
cation, one of the most important         all  that  interested  in  these  teach-          So in the entire creation, but es-
trading centers in all the Mediter-       ings,  for  they  strike  our  ears  as       pecially in man, was this "spark"
ranean  world.    It  was  the  place     strange,  esoteric,  hardly  credible;        of divinity which, if freed, would
where  East  and  West  met  and          and we may very well wonder how               flow back to God to be eventually
where trading routes from the Ori-        it  was  that  such  a  peculiar  con-        absorbed into the divine being.
ent crossed the trading routes from       glomeration of ideas could consti-                How was this escape to be ac-
the distant parts of the Roman Em-        tute  a  very  real  threat  to  the          complished?
pire.  It was a busy, bustling city;      church.                                           The       way      was      through

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"gnosis"--the  Greek  word  for             ing  on  what  form  of  Gnosticism         church fathers who were reluctant
"knowledge";  hence,  the  name            was  adopted.    The  one  way  was         to give up everything the philoso-
Gnosticism.                                that of asceticism, i.e., a mortifica-      phers had taught and which they
    There are three kinds of people        tion of the body through denying            had learned in the schools before
in this world: material people who         it food and drink, making it suffer,        their  conversion.    The  inclination
are  beyond  salvation;  psychical         and  thus  "crucifying  the  flesh."        was to find good in all these things.
people  who  are  capable  of  being       This later was carried over into mo-            Two:  Gnosticism  had  some
saved, although they lack the true         nasticism in the Romish Church.             things  about  it  which  are  always
"gnosis"; and spiritual people who             The other way, more appealing           appealing to people, even members
are the "inner circle," the "elite,"       to  many,  was  the  way  of  giving        of  the  church.    It  spoke  of  secret
those  who  possess  true  "gnosis,"       one's body over completely and to-          knowledge which one could attain
and  are  therefore  on  the  road  to     tally  to  an  indulgence  of  all  the     and  which  would  let  one  in  on
the liberation of the divine spark         lusts  and  pleasures  of  the  flesh.      mysteries,  esoteric  things  known
in them which will fly heavenward          The more such total licentiousness          only to a few, "inner circle" secrets.
to be absorbed in the being of God.        was practiced, the more the body            People are attracted to that sort of
    What role did Christ play in all       was denied.  And so some branches           thing  by  virtue  of  its  mysterious
this?                                      of  Gnosticism  became  wickedly            character.
    Obviously, Christ's human na-          evil.    It  was  the  ultimate  expres-        It also made skillful use of ritu-
ture could not be real because that        sion of "Let us sin that grace may          als and ceremonies which always
which is material is inherently evil,      abound."                                    appeal to man's baser instincts be-
and  Christ  was  sinless.    And  so,                                                 cause  it  is  spiritually  difficult  to
Christ's human nature was only an          Gnosticism's Main Characteristic            worship  God  "in  spirit  and  in
illusion; a ghost-like wraith, it only         If one is at all acquainted with        truth."  This is the abiding attrac-
seemed  to  be  real.    Thus,  out  of    ancient Greek philosophy, one can           tion of Rome's way of worship over
Gnosticism  rose  Docetism,  a  her-       easily detect the remnants of it pre-       against the simplicity advocated by
esy which denies the reality of our        served and modified in this system.         the Reformers.
Lord's human nature, and an error          If one knows even a bit about the               And it gave credence and sup-
perhaps referred to in I John 1:1-3.       mysticism from India, China, and            port to the idea of tolerance in the
    But neither was Christ our re-         other parts of the Orient, one can          area of religion.  There is really no
deemer.  Most thought of Him in            easily see that such religions influ-       need to insist on the unique char-
terms of that divine spark which,          enced Gnostic thinkers.  When one           acter  of  the  Christian  faith,  since
while  having  created  the  world,        recognizes that one of the ways in          truth can be found in all religions
through some misstep became im-            which  the  leaders  appealed  to           and  it  is  possible  to  "get  along"
prisoned in the world; and which           Christians  was  by  preaching  the         with many others whose faith dif-
divine spark was to be found in all        teachings of Jesus, one can see that        fers from ours, for all have certain
men and which could and would              Christianity was intended to be a           good points.  In modern language
be  liberated  through  the  mystery       part of the system.                         it  is  the  siren  song  that,  though
of "gnosis."                                   And  so  Gnosticism  wanted  a          Arminianism  may  be  defective
    This whole theory appealed to          worldwide,  eclectic  religion  to          theologically,  it  surely  has  this
many people and, in fact, laid its         which  everyone  could  agree,  and         good which we Calvinists lack: its
claim  on  the  masses  for  many          under  the  umbrella  of  which  ev-        enthusiasm and emphasis on god-
years.  But it did so with the se-         eryone could find a congenial reli-         liness.
ductive  promise  of  a  mysterious        gious shelter.  Why war over par-               That sort of a thing was so ap-
knowledge through which redemp-            ticulars and minute points?  Here           pealing to the early church because
tion would come, and it made use           is a religion which takes the best          it opened the door to the possibil-
of ceremonies, rituals, and appeals        from every religion and makes one           ity of assuming a more tolerant po-
to  be  able  to  open  the  door  to      universal religion palatable to all.        sition  over  against  the  culture  of
heaven and union with God.                     How could something like this           the day and in this way offered es-
    Partly,  the  secret  knowledge        appeal to so many?                          cape  from  the  persecution  which
which was the key to salvation in-             Well, we ought to consider two          was  the  lot  of  the  church  at  that
volved how to free the divine spark        things.                                     time.
in man.  This liberation of the di-            One: many (if not most) of the              And there may be one more el-
vine could come about only by  a           members of the church had come              ement.  The system called Gnosti-
denial and suppression of the body.        from  heathenism  and  paganism,            cism, with its doctrine of aeons and
But how to suppress the body, that         and had not yet been fully taught           its idea of salvation through the re-
was the question.  To that question        in the Christian faith.  Indeed, this       lease in us of the divine spark, was
two answers were given--depend-             was  true  even  of  some  of  the          clearly  Pantheistic.    That  is,  it

346/Standard Bearer/May 1, 1998


taught that all is God, and we too           being an ethical system also, was                cause, so very simply put, he be-
(at least, the divine in us) are God.        primarily  an  intellectual  system.             lieves  the  truth.    If  one  believes
Pantheism, in all the ages in which          One had to put on his thinking cap               anything  else  but  the  Christian
it  has  been  taught,  including            to understand the intricacies of its             faith, one will go to hell, because,
today's New Age Movement, is a               thought.                                         simply  put,  one  believes  the  lie.
direct  lie  of  the  devil  which  was           If  Christianity  was  to  defeat           Not  a  mixture  of  lie  and  truth--
first uttered in Paradise and which          Gnosticism  on  the  battlefield  of             the lie.
continues to be the lie by which Sa-         faith, Christianity had to turn now                  The reasons are clear why this
tan deceives many: Ye shall be as            from  ethical  and  moral  questions             vast  and  unbridgeable  chasm  ex-
God.  Eve and, a bit later, Adam             to more basic questions involving                ists between the Christian faith and
were deceived.  Countless throngs            the  truth.    What  is  the  truth  of          all pagan thought and religion.  Ev-
today  are  deceived  in  a  similar         God's Word.  What is the truth con-              ery  pagan  religion  and  every  pa-
fashion.                                     cerning God over against this cold               gan philosophy is  man's invention.
    So  the  church  had  a  fierce          and  impersonal  God  of  the                    It  has  its  origin  in  man's  sinful
battle on its hands, and it took over        Gnostics?  Who is Christ in distinc-             mind.  It has in it no elements of
a  century  before  the  battle  was         tion from this Christ of the Gnostics            truth, because there is no common
won.                                         whose human nature is only an il-                grace  to  enlighten  the  wicked
                                             lusion?                                          mind.  It has no good about it be-
The Church's Response                             The  Christian  faith  is  exactly          cause there is no operation of the
    Why did God so govern in the             that:  a  faith.  And that means that            Logos (of John 1) or of the Spirit
affairs of men and saints that such          it is a system of doctrine, of doctri-           operative in every man.  It is flat-
an evil as Gnosticism entered the            nal propositions which have to be                out the lie.
church and threatened her very ex-           believed in order for a man to be                    And  it  is  the  lie,  not  because
istence  as  the  church  of  Christ?        saved.  Faith is more than a way of              wicked  men  who  live  far  away
What  was  God's  purpose?    How            life.    It  is  a  way  of  life;  but  that    from the gospel do not know about
did  the  church  react  and  finally        unique way of life which is "Chris-              the  truth,  and  in  their  ignorance
overcome the threat of Gnosticism?           tian" is the  necessary  implication             make mistakes.  It is the lie because
    The  first  positive  fruit  of  this    of what a Christian believes.                    these men, thinking themselves to
great  and  terrible  controversy  in             Gnosticism forced the church to             be wise, and nevertheless becom-
the  church  was  this:    the  church       begin thinking doctrinally.                      ing  fools,  change  the  glory  of  the
was forced to give clear definition               And, secondly, in thinking doc-             incorruptible  God  into  images  of
to her faith, i.e., to the truth which       trinally, the church came to realize             their own imagination.
was her confession.                          that  the  only  possible  defense  it               The Christian religion, on the
    This had not yet happened.  In           had  against  Gnosticism,  and  the              other hand, has its origin in God,
the early life of the post-apostolic         real  claim  which  the  Scriptures              in God's mind and will.  It is  re-
church,  by  virtue  of  the  circum-        were  making,  was  the  absolutely              vealed and cannot be known apart
stances in which the church found            unique character of the Christian faith.         from divine revelation.  It is made
herself, all the emphasis of her life             Gnosticism said: there is good              known sovereignly by the Spirit in
fell upon her calling to live a holy         in  all  religions.    Gnosticism  said:         the  hearts  of  God's  elect  because
and godly life in the corruption of          every  religion  is  a  way  to  God.            God hides His truth from the wise
Roman civilization.  That is, all the        Gnosticism said: the greatest reli-              and  prudent  and  reveals  it  unto
emphasis  fell  on  the  need  to  live      gion is that religion which unites               babes; and this is His good plea-
antithetically in the world, and all         all religions in some sort of spiri-             sure.  That truth, sovereignly made
the thinking of the church was ab-           tual  hybrid  under  which  all  men             known, is the truth which saves.
sorbed in the question: How does             can find a theological roof.  Then                   The  Christian  is  finally  com-
the  Christianity  which  we  have           the world will also be at peace.                 pelled,  in  faithfulness  to  God,  to
now  embraced  make  our  lives  in               But more and more it dawned                 stand in the world and say:  What
every  detail  different  from  the          on the church fathers who fought                 I believe is the only truth; what you
wickedness  of  Roman  culture?              against Gnosticism that the Chris-               believe is the lie.  What I believe
What is a Christian husband?  May            tian religion was not like that.  An             opens  the  doors  of  heaven;  what
we  be  Roman  soldiers  after  our          absolute antithesis existed between              you  believe  is  from  hell  and  car-
conversion?  How do we treat chil-           the Christian faith and all other re-            ries  its  confessors  into  that  dark
dren?    May  we  attend  Roman              ligions.  Not only  was the Chris-               place.
shows?    These  and  similar  ques-         tian faith the only true religion, but               That takes a courage which few
tions  were  on  the  top  of  the           every  other  religion  was  totally             men have.  But it is the courage of
church's agenda.                             false.  If one believes the Christian            faith.
    But Gnosticism, while certainly          religion,  one  will  be  saved,  be-

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What the Battle                             ship.  "Reformed" teachers openly          being  intolerant,  openly  espouse
Against Gnosticism Means                    teach that God has provided many           New Age ideas.
    The  battle  which  the  church         ways  to  Himself,  and  each  is  en-         There can be no question about
fought against Gnosticism is never          titled to his own way to God.  And,        it,  that  for  us  to  take  the  stand
over in this life.  Today we have           indeed, the way of the fetish wor-         which  the  church  took  against
the  same  thing.    The  main  Re-         shiper may be better than ours.            Gnosticism is to invite persecution.
formed  body  in  the  Netherlands              The New Age Movement tells             But let it be, then.  Anything else
shuts down its mission work to the          all the world exactly what Gnosti-         is the destruction of the church.  If
Jews because Judaism is an accept-          cism said.  That movement creeps           you  will,  the  salvation  of  the
able religion.  Reformed Ecumeni-           into  churches,  seminaries,  and          church lies in her intolerance--in-
cal bodies openly approve of Bud-           Christian  schools;  and  weak  and        tolerance of all that is contrary to
dhism, Hinduism, and pagan wor-             wishy-washy teachers, often scared         God's truth in Christ.   u
                                            half to death by the accusation of


  Day of Shadows                                                                                 Homer Hoeksema



                                                      Chapter 8
                              The Setting of the
                   Stage of History (cont.)

                                            So he drove out the man; and he            of  the  knowledge  of  good  and
                                            placed at the east of the garden of        evil--these all remained for a time.
Exiled From Paradise                        Eden  Cherubims,  and  a  flaming          They  were  not  destroyed,  but
                                            sword which turned every way, to           Adam and Eve were driven from
                                            keep the way of the tree of life."         the  garden.    Precisely  how  long
We may well conclude this
           phase  of  sacred  history
           where  Scripture  con-               We will not take the time to re-       these  things  remained  is not  told
cludes it, with the narrative of the        fute various foolish denials of the        us by Scripture.  But it is more than
expulsion of Adam and Eve from              literal  character  of  the  historical    likely  that  Paradise  continued  as
Paradise, in Genesis 3:21-24:  "Unto        record of this passage, except to re-      long as the first world continued,
Adam also and to his wife did the           mark that they all have in common          that  is,  until  the  Flood,  and  that
Lord God make coats of skins, and           that  they  greatly  impoverish  the       then  the  same  waters  which  de-
clothed them.  And the Lord God             Word of God and deprive it of any          stroyed  the  first  world  (what  the
said, Behold, the man is become as          real spiritual significance.  Even as      Bible  calls  "the  world  that  then
one of us, to know good and evil:           we  have  conceived  of  this  entire      was") also wiped out Paradise.
and now, lest he put forth his hand,        section of God's Word as being the             We may observe in connection
and take also of the tree of life, and      literal and historical record of real      with this fact that there must have
eat,  and  live  for  ever:    Therefore    events,  so  we  must  consider  this      been  a  reason  for  this  also.    It
the Lord God sent him forth from            passage  also  in  the  same  light.       would have been a simple matter,
the  garden  of  Eden,  to  till  the       Then we must try to get from the           if man might no longer eat of the
ground from whence he was taken.            passage  some  conception  of  the         tree of life, to destroy the garden
                                            facts as they are narrated here, and       and its special trees.  Hence, if the
                                            of their spiritual significance.           Lord does not do this, but instead
                                                In the first place, we should no-      drives man out and takes pains to
                                            tice that it is implied in this pas-       place  Cherubim  and  a  flaming
The late Homer Hoeksema was professor       sage that Paradise remained.  The          sword to keep the way of the tree
of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the       garden, the tree of life, and the tree     of life, there must be a reason for
Protestant Reformed Seminary.

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this.  Nor is it difficult to discover         as  man's  covenant-Friend-Sover-            garden  itself  and  the  country  of
this reason. On the one hand, the              eign, and from the fact that this re-        Eden.  The former constituted, as
garden and its tree of life--and we             lation had now ceased.  But this is          it were, a holy place, a sanctuary.
may  note  that  the  emphasis  falls          also  the  presentation  of  Scripture       The latter, the land of Eden, may
here on the tree of life--constituted           from this point forward in history.          be compared to the outer court of
a reminder of the past.  Even the              God is in heaven, and from heaven            that tabernacle.  From that garden,
very presence of the Cherubim and              He  looks  down  on  the  doings  of         the  holy  place,  man  is  now  ex-
the flaming sword stood as a stark             the children of men.                         pelled.  Never again may he return
reminder of what had been and of                   Nevertheless,  the  form,  the           there.  But he remains in Eden.  He
what was now no longer possible.               shell  of  that  earthly  dwelling  of       is sent forth to the east in Eden, as
At  the  same  time,  on  the  other           God with man remained.  The gar-             is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the
hand, Paradise stood as a promise              den  as  such  was  still  there.    The     Cherubim, guarding the way of the
of  the  future.    After  all,  the  first    trees were there.  The tree of life is       tree of life, are stationed at the east.
Paradise was but a picture of a bet-           specifically mentioned in this pas-          But  he  is  not  expelled  from  the
ter Paradise to come, the heavenly             sage as remaining there, so that it          country of Eden.  This is plain also
Paradise of God with its heavenly              was necessary that the way of the            from  the  subsequent  history  of
tree of life.  That picture must for           tree of life be guarded.  The tree of        Cain in Genesis 4.  Cain becomes a
a time remain as a gospel, point-              the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil          vagabond, and he leaves Eden and
ing  forward  to  better  things  to           was  also  still  there.    All  these       dwells in the land of Nod, on the
come.                                          things stood there as a solemn re-           east of Eden.  Adam and Eve there-
    To understand this, let us also            minder  of  what  had  been,  of  a          fore,  expelled  from  the  garden,
take  note  for  a  moment  of  how            Paradise lost.                               now lived in the country of Eden,
Paradise remained.                                 It was much like the case of a           in  the  proximity  of  the  garden,
    In the first place, we must ob-            person who has been absent from              their former home.  This is also sig-
serve that the very heart of Para-             his parental home for some time,             nificant.    Figuratively  speaking,
dise was now gone, and, as far as              and who returns there when he re-            they stood with their noses against
that  earthly  Paradise  was  con-             ceives word that his parents have            the fence, peering in.  That is, they
cerned,  gone  forever.    Remember            died.    The  old  homestead  is  still      were in a constant position to look
that the idea of Paradise consisted            there.  As he enters the house, all          upon Paradise, the old dwelling of
in the fact that it was God's taber-           the old familiar furnishings are in          God  with  man,  the  place  from
nacle  with  man--God's  covenant               their  accustomed  places.    But  fa-       which they had been driven.
dwelling with His friend-servant--              ther  and  mother  are  there  no                It is evident that the essence of
and  man's  dwelling  with  God  in            longer,  and  all  those  furnishings        their being expelled from the gar-
covenant communion.  In the midst              are silent reminders of a family fel-        den consisted in the fact that they
of  the  garden,  and  especially              lowship which had been, but which            were barred from the tree of life.
through the tree of life, God dwelt.           has ceased.                                  This is clear from the passage when
There He would have communion                      Thus it was also with  respect           it tells us that the Lord said:  "...
with  His  friend.    In  the  garden          to Paradise.  The house, the shell,          and now, lest he put forth his hand,
proper was man's house with God,               of  God's  dwelling  with  man  still        and take also of the tree of life, and
where man, made after God's im-                stood as a solemn reminder of the            eat,  and  live  forever."    It  is  also
age, dwelt as the friend-servant of            past  that  had  been,  of  what  had        clear from the fact that the Cheru-
the living God, walking with Him               been spoiled and lost through sin            bim were "to keep the way of the
and talking with Him and blessed               and disobedience.  But there was             tree of life."
in  God's  communion.    This  very            another  element  also.    For  other-           The question is:  why are Adam
heart  of  Paradise  from  now  on             wise Paradise could only serve to            and  Eve  barred  from  the  tree  of
would  be  no  more,  and  could  be           arouse remorse and regret.  In the           life?
no  more.    Man  is  expelled  from           light  of  the  revelation  of  God's            This question can be answered
Paradise, to be  sure.  But neither            grace after the fall, in the light of        only  in  the  light  of  the  meaning
does God remain any longer in the              the promise of the gospel, Paradise          and the purpose of that tree.
midst of the garden, in that earthly           silently but eloquently preached a               Man, according to the passage,
sanctuary.  He leaves for heaven,              gospel:    it  spoke  mightily  of  the      now "knew" good and evil.  This
that  is,  as  far  as  His  covenant          promise  of  better  and  heavenly           is  certainly  not  to  be  understood
dwelling  and  friendship  are  con-           things to come.                              as  if  the  devil's  words  had  actu-
cerned.  Not only does this follow                 But though Paradise remained,            ally  been  realized,  and  as  if  man
from  the  very  nature  of  things,           Adam and Eve were expelled from              knew good and evil in the sense in
from the fact that God had made                it.    You  will  recall  that  Scripture    which  Satan  had  promised  this.
His presence known in the garden               makes  a  distinction  between  the          But neither is the language of verse

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22, where the Lord says, "Behold            his earthly life.  In fact it is exactly     can  also  understand  the  signifi-
the man is become as one of us, to          this striving that is still evident in       cance of the flaming sword, which
know good and evil," to be under-           all the attempts of the sinful world.        was perhaps in the hands of these
stood as irony.  Such irony would           It is fear of death, fear of the end         Cherubim,  turning  every  way,  to
have been worthy of the devil, not          of this temporal existence.  It fills        warn that approach to the tree of
of God.  God does not mock with             man.  It pursues him.  He clings to          life  was  impossible,  that  it  could
the  condition  of  Adam  and  Eve.         his sin.  He does not seek after God.        be attempted only at the cost of be-
Especially in the light of the prom-        Yet he will avoid the consequence            ing slain by the consuming fire of
ise it is inconceivable that the Lord       of his sin and strive to perpetuate          God's  holiness.    Indeed,  the  way
would employ irony in connection            his present state.                           to  life  for  Adam,  and  for  us,  is
with  their  misery.    Rather  is  this        Hence, God must send man out             barred.    Man  cannot  enter!    He
knowledge to be understood in the           and bar him from this tree.                  chose, in effect, to till the ground,
sense  of  determining,  as  meaning            At the same time God's people            because  he  proposed  to  live  by
that man  had sinfully assumed the          are  reminded  by  this  act  of  God        bread alone.  Now he must go to
prerogative of knowing for himself          not to cling to the things below.  It        till the ground from whence he was
what was good and what was evil.            is wrong, and it is also vain.  They         taken, and to die, returning to the
God had determined that for man,            must seek the things above.                  dust.
and  had  revealed  it  in  the  com-           All  this  stands  in  connection,           How miserable Adam and Eve
mand  not  to  eat  of  the  tree  of       of  course,  with  the  fact  that  man      must have been!  Paradise was still
knowledge of good and evil.  That           had  forfeited  God's  friendship            there.    They  could  see  it,  even
was a divine prerogative.  No mere          through his sin.  That tree of life          though they could not enter.  And
creature  may  determine  sover-            was also the symbol of God's cov-            you may imagine that as they tilled
eignly  what  is  good  and  what  is       enant communion.  To eat of that             the  ground,  wresting  a  bare  sub-
evil.    But  this  was  exactly  what      tree was closely connected with en-          sistence from it in the sweat of their
man had proposed to do for him-             trance  into  that  covenant  fellow-        face, they often must have pressed
self.  He assumed the right to know         ship.  But this, man had forfeited           their face, so to speak, against the
for  himself,  in  separation  from         by his sin.  God is holy and righ-           fence of the garden, to see it.  Ban-
God, what would be good and evil.           teous.  He can, therefore, have no           ished they were from God's pres-
In his sinful imagination and pre-          fellowship with sin.  He that is un-         ence.  God's friends they had been,
sumption he had become like God.            holy  and  unrighteous  cannot  ap-          and they remembered it.  They had
    That  was  exactly  his  misery,        proach Him.  Yet, the sinful nature          been  blessed  with  life,  and  they
however.    He  could  not  live  by        does not understand this, will not           could still recall it.  Now they were
bread alone, but only by the Word           recognize it.  Cain presently reveals        exiles.  God's wrath was upon them
that  proceeds  from  the  mouth  of        this plainly.  All modern Christian-         as  they  were  in  themselves;  chil-
God.  From that Word of God, and            ity  reveals this  same  spiritual  ig-      dren of wrath they were by nature.
therefore from the communion of             norance.  With works of their own,           The  Cherubim  and  the  flaming
God,  he  had  willfully  separated         with  the  righteousness  of  works          sword reminded them continually
himself.  He had gone down into             that  cannot  possibly  stand  before        of  their  misery.    They  had  been
death, spiritually.  He lived apart         God, they will approach God.  But            happy  in  their  earthly  life.    King
from God.  In himself he became             this is impossible.                          and  queen  they  had  been,  and
dead  in  sin  and  misery.    In  that         Hence,  the  way  is  barred  by         Paradise yielded to them its fruit
condition he must now live forever.         God Himself.  Cherubim are placed            in  abundance  without  toil  and
    Hence,  he  must  be  separated         at the entrance, to keep the way of          sweat on their part.  Rich they had
from  the  tree  of  life.    Remember      the tree of life.  We cannot take the        been.    Now  they  were  banished!
that the tree of life, as we explained      time now to study these Cherubim             The Cherubim and flaming sword
in connection with Genesis 2, had           in detail.  Suffice it to say that they      reminded them of it all.  How they
the power to perpetuate the earthly         are spirits, angels, whose particu-          must have felt sorely their misery,
existence of man.  This is plain es-        lar service is to guard the holiness         and known the nature of it.
pecially from this passage, which           of God's covenant.  Thus also they               Yet  their  position  was  also
would  otherwise  be  inexplicable.         appear above the ark, later, in the          hopeful.
The text presupposes that the tree          tabernacle.    Thus  it  is  that  Scrip-        For  Paradise  was  still  there.
of life had the power by its fruit to       ture speaks of God as dwelling be-           The  tree  of  life  remained;  it  was
perpetuate the earthly, physical ex-        tween the Cherubim.  These Cheru-            not destroyed, but only waiting for
istence of man, even after he had           bim signify, therefore, that God is          its higher fulfillment.  The way to
sinned.  The text also presupposes          jealous of His holiness, and that He         the tree was barred, but it was also
that man would be inclined to par-          will  avenge  every  attempt  of  the        kept.  The way was there--if only
take of this tree and to perpetuate         unholy to approach Him.  Thus we             those  Cherubim  and  that  sword

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could be removed.  Or if only they            their skins could also deprive them          men.    There  were  wrath  and  fire
could somehow pass the Cherubim               of those skins to make coats for His         and  Cherubim  and  a  sword  in-
without  the  sword  slaying  them!           people.    But  notice  that  this  im-      stead.  The way was barred.
The continued presence of the tree            plies,  in  the  first  place,  that  the        But  another  way  is  also
of life and the way to it were there-         Lord  taught  Adam  and  Eve  that           opened.  That is the way of sacri-
fore  elements  of  hope  for  better         their self-made coverings were not           fice, the way of atonement.  Pres-
things to come.                               sufficient.  In the second place, it         ently,  the  sons  of  God  will  build
    This we can understand in the             means  that  God  would  provide             altars, little spots where God will
light  of  the  promise  they  had  re-       them  a  covering  sufficient  in  His       have communion with His people
ceived, the promise of victory.  God          sight.  In the third place, it signi-        from heaven.  Then the earthly tab-
had promised them a seed.  Their              fies that this covering could be pro-        ernacle  and  temple  will  follow,
faith in the promise was reflected            vided only in the way of death, the          where  God  dwells  typically  and
in the name Adam had given his                punishment of sin.  God would ex-            symbolically,  though  still  in
wife.  She was Eve, the mother of             act  that  punishment  and  death            heaven.    Then  Christ  comes,
the  living,  or  the  mother  of  life.      from another, in order to cover His          Emmanuel, God with us, the tab-
Surely,  they  had  died.    Yet  life        people.  The Lord clothed them.  Is          ernacle of God with men in higher
would come out of death.  Eve was,            that not just exactly the way it still       reality.  He returns to heaven.  But
by  reason  of  the  promise,  the            is?    The  Lord  provides  the  sacri-      He comes again, in the Spirit.  And
mother of life.                               fice.  And the Lord makes us par-            in  the  hearts  of  His  people  the
    Moreover,  as  they  were  sent           takers of it.  The clothes provided          heavenly tabernacle of God is with
forth  from  the  garden,  they  were         are clothes of grace, pure grace.  In        man.  At the end, He comes again,
garbed  in  clothes  of  skins.    The        the light of the cross we today can          in  order  to  make  all  things  new.
Lord  God  had  made  them  these             see  this  in  reality, even  as  Adam       Then the tree of life will be in the
coats of skins.  Do not say that this         and Eve could see it only dimly in           midst of the Paradise of God.
is  impossible,  for  that  is  foolish.      the far off.                                     Toward  that  goal  all  history,
The Bible does not tell us exactly                Hence, there was hope.                   with its ongoing conflict between
how God made this provision.  But                 In Paradise the sun went down.           the seed of the woman and the seed
this is certain, that the Lord who            God's  tabernacle  was  there.    But        of the serpent, now begins to move.
calls  the  animals  and  gave  them          God's  tabernacle  there  disap-                                                   u
                                              peared, and  it was no more with

  Search the Scriptures                                                                              Rev. Mitchell Dick

                    The Secret of the Spirit
                                                 (John 14:15-31)


                                              this last discourse of John 14-17 is         Father  up  there.    So  be  not
                                              to comfort the people of God.  God           troubled,  sorrowing  ones!    My
                                              had told the prophets long ago that
Intimate discourse, this last one
   of Jesus to His disciples.  It is                                                       blood is the way, grace is the way.
                                              to comfort the people of God is the
   the night before Jesus' death on                                                        Your works are not the way, and
                                              calling  of  the  prophets  (Is.  40:1).
the  cross.    Jesus  continues  to  re-                                                   My work is not partially the way.
                                              Here is the prophets: all in Jesus, ful-
veal  covenant  secrets  to  His                                                           I am the only way, and the whole
                                              filled in Jesus the Prophet!
friends.    So  much  to  say!    Who                                                      way of salvation!  Believe this, My
                                                  "Let  not  your  heart  be
would say: but the sermon is too                                                           way,  the  accomplishing  of  your
                                              troubled," the Prophet cries.  "Hear
long?                                                                                      warfare.  Trust My way, and your
                                              of  heaven,"  He  goes  on  to  say.
    The  main  concern  of  Jesus  in                                                      hearts  will  certainly  not  be
                                              "What  mansions  of  glory  in               troubled, but rejoice!"
                                              Father's house!  And a place there               Comfort,  Jesus  gives,  by
                                              I go to prepare for you!"  And "I            preaching the future thing, heaven,
                                              am the way," this Prophet declares!
Rev.  Dick is  pastor  of Grace Protestant                                                 and  by  preaching  the  eternal
Reformed Church in Standale, Michigan.        "I  am  the  way  to  heaven  and  to        weight of glory.  But He will give

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something of heaven  for now.  He           This is the further secret of Jeho-          sands of years, and over mountains
Himself came down to be with His            vah of which Jesus discourses now.           and seas, and from one culture to
own.  Now, in His going away, He            It is the secret of the covenant God         the next.  Drawing us into the sanc-
will send the Holy Spirit.  He sends        with us ... in the Spirit!  He speaks          tuary  of  the  upper  room  to  hear
Him, for He will never leave us but         to the heart.  With love the words           the great Preacher.  Love.  And the
be with us always in this Spirit.  He       come.  Reaching now across thou-             Word.    And  the  Spirit  working
sends Him in His great love for us.                                                      love.  Come.  Listen....


                                   For Study, Meditation, &
                                               Discussion

1. The Spirit                               Spirit is the Comforter.  In light of        cided for the biblical truth of the
    John  14-16  is  a  golden  cup         the truth of the Comforter, is it ever       "double procession" of the Spirit,
filled with the truth of the Spirit.        good and pious to doubt one's sal-           while the eastern half denied this.
May we drink deeply!                        vation?    What  are  some  spiritual        Where in the passage (cf. also John
    Who is the Spirit?  Find proof          means God gives whereby we can               15:26)  is  the  truth  taught  of  the
here  and  in  the  rest  of  Scripture     be  comforted  and  assured  of  sal-        "double  procession,"  that  is,  the
that He is God.  What in this pas-          vation?                                      truth that the Spirit proceeds from
sage tells us that the Spirit is a per-         Verse 17 tells us that this Spirit-      the  Father  and  the  Son?    What
son, and not just a "force," or an          Comforter  is  the  Spirit  of  truth.       creeds teach this?  What difference
"it"?                                       Among other things this means that           does this doctrine make?
    When Jesus refers in this pas-          He  is  the  source  of  truth.    The           Matthew  28:20  records  the
sage  to the Spirit being sent He is        Spirit's  work  is  establishing  and        promise of Jesus that He would be
referring,  of  course,  to  Pentecost,     promoting truth.  How did He do              with the disciples always.  In what
when  the  Spirit  was  poured  out         this in the writing of the Bible (cf.        verses in John 14 does Jesus indi-
upon  the  church  (read  Acts  2!).        II  Tim.  3:16,  17;  II  Pet.  1:19-21)?    cate that He will keep His promise
John 7:39, referring to the time be-        What does the Spirit of God being            so that when the Spirit comes He
fore  Jesus  was  glorified  (which         the Sprit of truth say about the fol-        Himself will still be with the dis-
would be the entire Old Testament           lowing:  How we "try the spirits"            ciples after He has gone away?
period  until  Jesus'  ascension  and       whether  they  are  of  God  (I  John            How, according to verse 26, is
work of sending the Spirit!), says          4:1)?    Truly  holy  living?    The         the Spirit-Teacher's subject matter
that the  Spirit  was not  yet at that      church's  fruit of  the  Spirit  in  her     the Son (cf. also John 15:26)?
time.    Does  this  mean  that  there      ministry and worship?  The Char-
was  no  Spirit  or  influence  of  the     ismatic  movement?    A  spirit  that        3. The Fruits of the Spirit
Spirit in the Old Testament?  What          prompts one to say:  "I felt led to              Besides comfort, truth, and ho-
difference has Pentecost made be-           bark in church the other day"?               liness the Spirit bears many fruits
tween the Old Testament and New                 Verse 26 tells us another name           in the lives of the believer.
Testament age?                              of this Spirit.  He is the Holy Spirit.          One main work of the Spirit is
    In verse 16 the Spirit is called        Why is the Spirit called this?  What         to be a "homemaker."  He estab-
"another Comforter" whom the Fa-            does  this  say  of  His work  in  our       lishes  covenant  homes!    He  does
ther will give.  The Greek word is          lives?                                       this in the first place by taking us,
paraklete.    It  means  literally  "one                                                 who are by nature children of the
who  is  called  to  one's  side,"  and     2. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit              devil,  and  adopting  us  into  the
that,  especially  to  aid  another.            We believe that the persons of           family-life of the Father.  For this
From the lexicons we learn that the         the Trinity are essentially one, and         reason He  is called the  "Spirit of
paraklete  might  be  called  to  one's     yet  personally  distinct.    How  are       adoption" (Rom. 8:15).  This Spirit
side in court, as a lawyer or advo-         the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit        of  adoption  sent  from  heaven  is
cate.    He  may  plead  one's  cause       personally  distinct  from  one  an-         why,  when  Jesus  goes  away,  the
also in prayer, as an intercessor.  Or      other?                                       disciples are not left "comfortless"
the  paraklete may offer other kinds            In the Middle Ages the church            (v. 18) or literally "orphans"!  The
of help and encouragement.  How             split over a doctrinal issue called          Spirit  is  the  "homemaker"  in  the
is the Spirit such a  paraklete? Find       the "procession" of the Spirit.  The         economy of salvation in the second
other passages which teach that the         western  half  of  Christendom  de-          place in that, through His work es-

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tablishing  us  as  "temples"  of  the       forth!  According to verse 30, why         now, through the Spirit poured out,
Holy Ghost (cf. I Cor. 6:19), the Fa-        cannot  the  world  receive  Christ's      He  continues  to  reveal  truth,  to
ther and the Son themselves come             Spirit?  How does a passage such           comfort, to sanctify, and to make
and make their abode the hearts of           as I Corinthians 2 bear on this truth      our  hearts  a  home  for  the  living
the people of God (John 14:23).              that the world cannot receive the          God!
       Wonderful  covenant  homes!           Spirit?                                        Crucial  for  our  appropriation
Reflect  on  this,  adopted  child  of           Some  contend  that  the  Spirit       and enjoyment of the Spirit is love
God!  How is this a great comfort            wants to be received, but is frus-         in our hearts.  Jesus speaks of this
to us?  How do we show in all our            trated in His efforts by the sinful        often  in  this  passage:  John  14:15,
lives, in all the  activities of body        resistance of men.  Why is such a          21, 23, 24, 28.  What, according to
and soul, that we  welcome such di-          contention erroneous?                      Jesus, is the fruit of this love?  How
vine family members?                             How does this world show en-           do we show this, and increase in
       Besides  establishing  covenant       mity against the Spirit as He mani-        our spiritual fruit-bearing?
homes, the Spirit is our life (v. 19),       fests Himself and His work in be-              Thankfully, we being naturally
our peace (v. 27), and our joy (v.           lievers? In the church?                    void  of  love,  the  Holy  Spirit  is
28).  How are our life, peace, and                                                      given  to  shed  abroad  the  love  of
joy different from this world's life,        5. Perspective (John 20:31)                God  in  our  hearts  (Rom.  5:5).
peace, and joy?                                  John is inspired to write so that      Thankfully,  it  is  Jesus'  love,  and
                                             we might believe that Jesus is the         His work of love, by which we are
4. The Spirit and the World                  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  and  that     saved and kept (cf. v. 19, 31).
       Jesus sends the Spirit whom the       believing  we  might  have  life               Yes,  this  is  the  secret  of  the
world cannot receive (v. 17).  This          through His name.                          Spirit: the love of God!  Take note.
is exactly because the Spirit is the             Great  covenant  Savior  and           Jesus is sharing secrets of Jehovah.
Spirit of Christ, and the world can-         giver  of  the  Spirit  revealed  here!    Covenant  secrets.    Secret  of  the
not receive Christ in His Spirit sent        Jesus, from heaven, continues to be        Spirit.  Love.  Listen....    u
                                             the only Mediator!  From heaven

  Taking Heed to the Doctrine                                                                         Rev. Steven Key


                      Christ, Our Priest (2)

                                             holy  place  with  the  blood  of  the     sacrifice outside the veil in the Old
                                             sacrifice  and  the  sweet  incense.       Testament typology.  His entering
                                             "And he shall take a censer full of        into heaven, there to intercede on
                                             burning coals of fire from off the         behalf of His people, is that which
There is another aspect of
         Christ's  priestly  office  that
         deserves special mention.  I        altar before the LORD, and his hands       answered to the priest's going with
refer to His lasting intercession for        full of sweet incense beaten small,        blood,  and  his  hands  full  of  in-
us.                                          and bring it within the veil:  And         cense, within the veil, into the holy
                                             he shall put the incense upon the          of holies.
His Lasting Intercession                     fire before the LORD, that the cloud           So  we  read  in  Hebrews  9:24,
       This aspect of Christ's priestly      of the incense may cover the mercy         "For Christ is not entered into the
function  was  also  typified  in  the       seat that is upon the testimony, that      holy place made with hands, which
Old Testament.  We read of that in           he die not:  And he shall take of          are the figures of the true; but into
Leviticus 16:12-14, where we read            the  blood  of  the  bullock,  and         heaven itself, now to appear in the
of the high priest entering into the         sprinkle it with his finger upon the       presence of God for us."
                                             mercy  seat  eastward;  and  before            And  in  comparison  to  those
                                             the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of        Old Testament priests, we read of
                                             the  blood  with  his  finger  seven       Jesus in Hebrews 10:12:  "But this
                                             times."                                    man, after he had offered one sac-
Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Re-         Christ's offering Himself on the       rifice  for  sins  for  ever,  sat  down
formed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.        cross answered to the killing of the       on the right hand of God."

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    What does it mean that Christ           article  which  demonstrated  very         for on our behalf.  The very sight
is our Intercessor, and what is in-         clearly that Rome has not changed          of  our  High  Priest  prevails  with
cluded  in  that  continual  interces-      one  iota  in  the  essence  of  their     God, and causes Him to turn His
sion with the Father?                       Romish theology.  The article de-          wrath from us.
    That  Christ  is  our  Intercessor      scribed the tremendously compli-               And secondly, Jesus Christ our
means that He appears before God            cated  process  of  securing  saint-       Intercessor  presents  our  prayers
to make requests for us.  He does           hood, part of  which is the neces-         and the prayers of all saints to God
so  as  an  act  of  that  office  which    sity of one verifiable miracle, such       with  His  merits,  and  desires  that
God  has  given  Him.    We  may            as the healing of a person who has         those prayers may be granted for
therefore  say  that  in  a  very  real     prayed  to  the  prospective  saint.       His  sake  according  to  the  will  of
sense Jesus Christ is in heaven as          And according to the article, in the       the Father.  We may safely bring
our  attorney  before  God,  appear-        case  of  this  particular  man  long      all  our  concerns  to  the  Father
ing  for  us  and  making  continual        dead,  Cardinal  O'Connor  sug-            through  Him.    "For  we  have  not
peace and friendship with God on            gested that his skeleton be dug up         an  high  priest  which  cannot  be
our behalf.  Though Satan would             from its current grave and be re-          touched with the feeling of our in-
accuse us before God, as we read            buried at the heavily trafficked St.       firmities;  but  was  in  all  points
in  Zechariah  3,  and  though  he          Patrick's  Cathedral  in  New  York        tempted like as we are, yet with-
would demand that God release us            City  because--and  this  was  a            out  sin.  Let  us  therefore  come
to him because of all our sins, Jesus       quote--"you  can't  get  people  to         boldly  unto  the  throne  of  grace,
Christ appears in our defense, per-         pray to someone unless they know           that we may obtain mercy, and find
fectly prepared to seek our acquit-         about him."                                grace  to  help  in  time  of  need"
tal before God the righteous Judge.             Rome  continues  to  rob  Christ       (Heb. 4:15, 16).
How  comforting  are  those  words          of His peculiar glory, and desecrate           What  a  tremendous  blessing
recorded in I John 2:1:  "If any man        His peculiar office as our only High       for us is found in this intercessory
sin, we have an advocate with the           Priest before God.  Blessed be any         work of our High Priest!
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."        who have been brought by God out               God  has  revealed  to  us  this
He is the Righteous One, who ap-            of the bondage and corruption and          truth  that  we  might  glorify  Him,
pears  on  our  behalf.    And  Jesus       idolatry  of  Roman  Catholicism.          being  encouraged  against  all  the
Christ is the only One in whom we           And thank God for the great Ref-           causes  of  our  own  misery  and
may approach unto God.  For He              ormation of the sixteenth century          troubles.  Many are the sins which
alone is the One appointed by God           which freed the church from that           cleave to us.  Those sins grieve the
for that office.                            bondage.                                   Holy Spirit, trouble our own con-
                                                To make intercession is the pe-        sciences, and shame the Holy One
The Robbery by Rome                         culiar prerogative of Christ, which        and His church.  But  because we
    What  a  terrible  robbery  of          He cannot give to another.  None           have such a High Priest in heaven,
Christ's glory it is on Rome's part         but He can go in His own name to           our sins cannot be our ruin.  "My
to request people to pray to saints.        God.  For that reason also He says         little children, these things write I
While Scripture defines as saints all       in John 16:23: "Whatsoever ye shall        unto you, that ye sin not.  And if
those who belong to Christ, the Ro-         ask of the Father in my name, he           any man sin, we have an advocate
man Catholic Church has a differ-           will give it you."                         with  the  Father,  Jesus  Christ  the
ent  definition.    Saints  among  the                                                 righteous" (I John 2:1).
Romish are those  who have been             Christ's Blessed Work                          Oh,  make  no  mistake.    This
recognized  as  such  by  the  pope,            The  continual  intercession  of       promise, as with all the promises
and therefore those in whose name           Christ with the Father consists of         of Scripture, is particular.  He who
people may pray and who suppos-             two things in particular according         is the Intercessor for some, will be
edly serve as advocates and inter-          to the Bible.                              an  Accuser  of  others.    Therein  is
cessors before God.                             In  the  first  place,  He  appears    the necessity of faith.  Christ is ac-
    A few years ago, an American            in the presence of God as our Ad-          tive  in  His  intercessory  work  for
news  magazine1  gave coverage to           vocate,  presenting  His  blood  and       those who are members of Him by
the attempts  on the part  of some          all His sufferings to God as a mov-        faith.
church  members  to  secure  saint-         ing plea on our account.  All the              How  sad  is  the  case  of  those
hood from the Vatican for a black           wrath that Jesus bore for our sakes        who have no interest in the blood
man who died in New York City               and the wounds that He received            of Christ, but trample it under their
back in 1853.  It was a fascinating         still  bleed  fresh,  as  it  were,  in    feet.  Instead of pleading for them,
                                            heaven--a moving and prevailing             that  blood  of  Christ  cries  to  God
                                            argument with the Father, to give          against them, as the despisers and
1. Insight, October 22, 1990.               out the mercies that Christ pleads         abusers of it!

354/Standard Bearer/May 1, 1998


      But how precious is His inter-            surance of faith, having our hearts        of  our  own  Christian  priesthood.
cession on behalf of you who are                sprinkled from an evil conscience,         Our priesthood is not one of mak-
saints in Christ Jesus.                         and our bodies washed with pure            ing  payment  for  sin.    Christ  has
      Christ says to God the Father,            water.  Let us hold fast the profes-       made that payment once in full for
"O My Father, give me Thy Spirit,               sion of our faith without wavering;        all God's elect.  Our priesthood is
that I may apply the forgiveness of             (for he is faithful that promised)."       enjoyed  and  experienced  in  the
sins  to  the  consciences  of  Mine                Our  prayers,  however  weak,          freedom  which  we  have  to  serve
elect."                                         when offered in faith, are lifted up       the living God.  When we are par-
      Christ  does  not  need  to  per-         to God by Christ, and are purified         takers  of  Christ's  anointing  and
suade  God.    But  He  understands             by  His  Spirit,  that  they  might  be    beneficiaries of His priestly office,
the need that we have, to be per-               presented  to  the  glory  of  the         we  are  compelled  by  the  Spirit
suaded in our own minds and to                  blessed  triune  God.   And  He  an-       within us to present ourselves liv-
hear  the  testimony  of  His  Spirit           swers those prayers with His pres-         ing  sacrifices  of  thankfulness  to
with  our  spirits  that  we  are  the          ence,  with  the  fellowship  of  His      God.
children of God.  Do you hear that              grace,  and  the  assurance  worked            What a blessed place we have,
testimony?  Are you assured that                by His Holy Spirit.                        by faith in Christ!
your  sins  are  forgiven  forever?                 Christ  our  Intercessor  is  the          When  we  live  by  faith,  ac-
That  is  the  effect  of  intercessory         Author and Finisher  of our faith,         knowledging what God has given
prayer of Christ on your behalf.                ever begging for us new and fresh          us in the priesthood of Jesus Christ,
      May  we,  therefore,  draw  en-           mercies from heaven.                       then we say, "Blessed be God!"  We
couragement  also  in  our  own                                                            say that as His prophets.  But we
prayer life and in our daily walk               Our Christian Priesthood                   also confess that as His priests.  For
as Christians.  That also is empha-                 When we understand and con-            that is the living sacrifice of praise
sized in Hebrews 10:21-23:  "And                fess  the  perfect  priesthood  of         we offer to Him, looking forward
having  an  high  priest  over  the             Christ, the Son of God, then we also       to the day when we can begin to
whole house of God; Let us draw                 will spontaneously know the place          offer ourselves perfectly, even for-
near  with  a  true  heart  in  full  as-                                                  evermore.   u

     Bring the Books



            John Calvin on Singing Psalms in Church*


                                                inflame the hearts of men to invoke        may  be  put  to.    For  even  in  our
                                                and praise God with a heart more           homes and out of doors let it be a
As to public prayers, there vehement and ardent.  One must spur to us and a means of praising
            are two kinds:  the one con-        always watch lest the song be light        God  and  lifting  up  our  hearts  to
            sists  of  words  alone;  the       and  frivolous;  rather,  it  should       Him, so that we may be consoled
other includes music.  And this is              have weight and majesty, as St. Au-        by  meditating  on  His  virtue,  His
no recent invention.  For since the             gustine says.  And thus there is a         bounty, His wisdom, and His jus-
very beginning of the church it has             great  difference  between  the  mu-       tice.    For  this  is  more  necessary
been  this  way,  as  we  may  learn            sic that is made to entertain people       than one can ever tell.
from history books.  Nor does St.               at  home  and  at  table,  and  the            Among all the other things that
Paul himself speak only of prayer               Psalms which are sung in church,           are  proper  for  the  recreation  of
by word of mouth, but also of sing-             in the presence of God and His an-         man and for giving him pleasure,
ing.  And in truth, we know from                gels.  Therefore, if any wish rightly      music, if not the first, is among the
experience  that  song  has  a  great           to  judge  the  kind  of  music  pre-      most important; and we must con-
power  and  strength  to  move  and             sented here, we hope he will find          sider it a gift from God expressly
                                                it to be holy and pure, seeing that        made  for  that  purpose.    And  for
                                                it is simply made in keeping with          this reason we must be all the more
*     Calvin's preface to the Geneva Psalter    the  edification  of  which  we  have      careful not to abuse it, for fear of
of 1543.                                        spoken,  whatever  further  use  it        defiling  or  contaminating  it,  con-

                                                                                                    May 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/355


verting to our damnation what is              melody goes with them, they will            only by the heart.  Now the heart
intended for our profit and salva-            pierce  the  heart  much  more              implies intelligence, which, says St.
tion.  If even for this reason alone,         strongly and enter within.  Just as         Augustine,  is  the  difference  be-
we might well be moved to restrict            wine is funneled into a barrel, so          tween the singing of men and that
the use of music to make it serve             are venom and corruption distilled          of  birds.    For  though  a  linnet,  a
only what is respectable and never            to the very depths of the heart by          nightingale, or a parrot sing ever
use it for unbridled dissipations or          melody.                                     so well, it will be without under-
for  emasculating  ourselves  with                So  what  are  we  to  do?    We        standing.  Now it is man's gift to
immoderate pleasure.  Nor should              should have songs that are not only         be able to sing and to know what
it  lead  us  to  lasciviousness  or          upright but holy, that will spur us         it  is  he  is  singing.    After  intelli-
shamelessness.                                to pray to God and praise Him, to           gence, the heart and the emotions
    But  more  than  this,  there  is         meditate on His works so as to love         must follow, and this can happen
hardly anything in the world that             Him, to fear Him, to honor Him,             only if we have the hymn engraved
has greater power to bend the mor-            and glorify Him.  For what St. Au-          in our memory so that it will never
als of men this way or that, as Plato         gustine  said  is  true,  that  one  can    cease.
has wisely observed.  And in fact             sing nothing worthy of God save                 And therefore the present book
we find from experience that it has           what one has received from Him.             needs little recommendation from
an insidious and well-nigh incred-            Wherefore though we look far and            me, seeing  that in and of itself it
ible power to move us whither it              wide we will find no better songs           possesses its own value and sings
will.  And for this reason we must            nor songs more suitable to that pur-        its own praise.  Only let the world
be all the more diligent to control           pose  than  the  Psalms  of  David,         have the good sense henceforth to
music  in  such  a  way  that  it  will       which  the  Holy  Spirit  made  and         leave  off  singing  those  songs--in
serve us for good and in no way               imparted  to  him.    Thus,  singing        part vain and frivolous, in part stu-
harm us.  This is why the early doc-          them  we  may  be  sure  that  our          pid and dull, in part foul and vile
tors of the church used to complain           words come from God just as if He           and  in  consequence  evil  and  de-
that the people of their time were            were to sing in us for His own ex-          structive--which it has availed it-
addicted  to  illicit  and  shameless         altation.    Wherefore  Chrysostom          self of up to now, and to use these
songs, which they were right to call          exhorts men, women, and children            divine and heavenly canticles with
a mortal, world-corrupting poison             alike to get used to singing them,          good  King  David.    As  for  the
of Satan's.                                   so  as  through  this  act  of  medita-     melody, it has seemed best to mod-
    Now in treating music I recog-            tion  to  become  as  one  with  the        erate it in the way we have done,
nize  two  parts,  to  wit,  the  word,       choir of angels.                            so as to lend it the gravity and maj-
that is the subject and text, and the             Then,  too,  we  must  keep  in         esty that befits its subject, and as
song, or melody.  It is true, as St.          mind what St. Paul says, that de-           might even be suitable for singing
Paul says, that all evil words will           votional  songs  can  be  sung  well        in  church,  according  to  what  has
pervert  good  morals.    But  when                                                       been said.   s



           Basil the Great (c. A.D. 330-c. A.D. 379)
                                              on Psalm Singing
                                              the sound heard we might receive            has any one of the many indiffer-
                                              without perceiving it the benefit of        ent persons gone away easily hold-
                                              the words, just as wise physicians          ing in mind either an apostolic or
                                              who,  when  giving  the  fastidious         prophetic  message,  but  they  do
                                              rather  bitter  drugs  to  drink,  fre-     chant the words of the psalms even
When, indeed, the Holy
               Spirit  saw  that  the  hu-
               man  race  was  guided         quently smear the cup with honey.           in the home, and they spread them
only with difficulty toward virtue,           Therefore, He devised for us these          around in the market place, and if
and that, because of our inclination          harmonious  melodies  of  the               perchance  someone  becomes  ex-
toward pleasure, we were neglect-             psalms, that they who are children          ceedingly wrathful, when he begins
ful of an upright life, what did He           in  age  or  even  those  who  are          to be soothed by the psalm, he de-
do?    The  delight  of  melody  He           youthful in disposition might to all        parts with the wrath of his soul im-
mingled with the doctrines so that            appearances chant  but,  in reality,        mediately lulled to sleep by means
by the pleasantness and softness of           become trained in soul.  For, never         of the melody.

356/Standard Bearer/May 1, 1998


    A  psalm  implies  serenity  of            those at the height of their vigor, a        more deeply on our minds.  Even
soul;  it  is  the  author  of  peace,         consolation for the elders, a most           a forceful lesson does not always
which  calms  bewildering  and                 fitting  ornament  for  women.    It         endure, but what enters the mind
seething  thoughts.    For  it  softens        peoples  the  solitudes;  it  rids  the      with joy and pleasure somehow be-
the wrath of the soul, and what is             market place of excesses; it is the          comes more firmly impressed upon
unbridled  it  chastens.    A  psalm           elementary exposition of beginners,          it.  What, in fact, can you not learn
forms  friendships,  unites  those             the improvement of those advanc-             from  the  psalms?    Can  you  not
separated, conciliates those at en-            ing, the solid support of  the per-          learn the grandeur of courage?  The
mity.  Who, indeed, can still con-             fect,  the  voice  of  the  church.    It    exactness of justice?  The nobility
sider him an enemy with whom he                brightens the feast days; it creates         of self-control?  The perfection of
has  uttered  the  same  prayer  to            a  sorrow  which  is  in  accordance         prudence?  A manner of penance?
God?  So that psalmody, bringing               with God.  For a psalm calls forth           The  measure  of  patience?    And
about choral singing, a bond, as it            a tear even from a heart of stone.           whatever  other  good  things  you
were, toward unity, and joining the            A psalm is  the work of  angels, a           might mention?  Therein is perfect
people into a harmonious union of              heavenly  institution,  the  spiritual       theology, a prediction of the com-
one choir, produces also the great-            incense.                                     ing of Christ in the flesh, a threat
est of blessings, charity.  A psalm                Oh! the wise invention of the            of  judgment,  a  hope  of  resurrec-
is a city of refuge from the demons,           teacher  who  contrived  that  while         tion, a fear of punishment, prom-
a means of inducing help from the              we were singing we should at the             ises of glory, an unveiling of mys-
angels, a weapon in fears by night,            same time learn something useful;            teries; all things, as if in some great
a  rest  from  toils  by  day,  a  safe-       by  this  means,  too,  the  teachings       public  treasury,  are  stored  up  in
guard for infants, an adornment for            are  in  a  certain  way  impressed          the Book of Psalms.   u

  Ministering to the Saints                                                                        Prof. Robert Decker



                        The Reconciliation of
                Excommunicated Sinners

                                                 ther before the celebration of the         Lord's  Supper"  were  omitted.
                                                 Lord's  Supper,  or  at  some  other       They  should  have  been  retained.
                                                 opportune time, in order that (in          The announcement of the Form of
                                                 as far as no one can mention any-
Though it happens only occa-
         sionally, it is possible that a
                                                 thing against him to the contrary)         Readmitting Excommunicated Per-
         person who had been excom-
                                                 he may with profession of his con-         sons informs the congregation that
municated from the church repents                version be publicly reinstated, ac-        the consistory intends to loose the
and desires to be reconciled with                cording to the form for that pur-          excommunicated  person  from  the
the Lord and His church.  Article                pose.                                      bond of excommunication ( in other
78 of the Church Order of the Protes-                                                       words,  reinstate  the  person)  "the
tant Reformed Churches makes pro-                  Van  Dellen  and  Monsma  call           next time when by the grace of God
vision for this when it states:                attention to a rather serious omis-          we  celebrate  the  Supper  of  the
                                               sion  from  the  English  translation        Lord,  and  receive  him  again  into
    Whenever anyone who has been               of this Article.  The original Dutch         the communion of the Church...."
  excommunicated  desires  to  be-             version of Article 78 reads, " ... in
  come reconciled to the church in             order that (in as far as no one can
  the way of repentance, it shall be
  announced to the congregation, ei-           mention  anything  against  him  to          *    Idzerd  Van  Dellen  and  Martin
                                               the contrary) he may with profes-            Monsma,  The  Church  Order  Commen-
                                               sion of his conversion be publicly           tary: A Brief Explanation of the Church
                                                                                            Order of the Christian Reformed Church
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical The-    reinstated,  at the next celebration of      (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing
ology  in  the  Protestant  Reformed  Semi-    the Lord's Supper...."*  The words,            House, 1954), p. 323.
nary.                                          "at  the  next  celebration  of  the

                                                                                                     May 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/357


It should also be noted in this con-       one else's desire to which the sin-        decision to reinstate the sinner to
nection  that  censure  begins  with       ner assents, but it must be his own        the fellowship of the saints in the
suspension from the Lord's Supper.         heartfelt desire and request to be         church.  An announcement must be
This being the case, it is fitting that    reconciled.  Second, the excommu-          made  to  the  congregation  to  this
reconciliation take place when the         nicated one must desire reconcilia-        effect.  This announcement is found
sacrament is celebrated.  The rea-         tion  "in  the  way  of  repentance."      at the beginning of the Form of Re-
son the phrase was omitted is prob-        The church must be willing to for-         admitting  Excommunicated  Per-
ably  because  the  first part  of  Ar-    give "till seventy times seven," but       sons and reads as follows:
ticle  78  stipulates  that  the  an-      only and always when the sinner
nouncement  that  an  excommuni-           repents.    Repentance  involves               Beloved in the Lord, it is known
cated person wishes to become rec-         godly sorrow on account of the sin,          to you, that some time ago our fel-
onciled shall be made  "either be-         the  desire  to  be  forgiven  by  the       low member, ___, was cut off from
fore  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's    Lord and one's fellow saints, and            the  church  of  Christ;  we  cannot
Supper,  or at some other opportune        a leaving of the sin.                        now conceal from you, that he, by
                                                                                        the above mentioned remedy, as
time...."  The "or at some other op-             Before reconciliation may take           also by the means of good admo-
portune  time"  allows  for  excep-        place,  the  elders  must  be  certain       nitions  and  your  Christian
tions to the rule that the reconcili-      that  the  sinner  has  sincerely  re-       prayers, is come so far, that he is
ation take place before the celebra-       pented.  There must be no doubt              ashamed  of  his  sins,  praying  us
tion of the Lord's Supper.                 about this.  All reservations must           to be readmitted into the commun-
    The Form of Excommunication            be removed.  This does not mean              ion of the church....
speaks of excommunication as "the          that  the  elders  simply  impose  a
last remedy."  The Church Order            time of probation during which the         The  announcement  continues  by
likewise  calls  excommunication           sinner is given opportunity to dem-        informing the congregation that the
"the  extreme  remedy"  (Art.  76).        onstrate that he has indeed left the       sinner will be reinstated the next
The reason for this is that one of         sin, but during which the elders ig-       time  the  Lord's  Supper  is  cel-
the purposes for which the church          nore  him.    This  would  be  wrong       ebrated.    The  announcement  also
applies excommunication is to save         indeed!  When one who has been             admonishes  those  who  have  law-
the sinner.  After all other means         excommunicated expresses the de-           ful objections to the reconciliation
have failed, the church hopes and          sire to be reconciled with the Lord        to inform the elders in due time.
prays that it may please the Lord          and  His  church,  the  elders  ought          The reason why this announce-
to use the final and extreme step          to  designate  a  time  of  probation,     ment must be made to the congre-
in the process of discipline to bring      but then work with the person and          gation is so that the congregation
the transgressor to sincere repen-         encourage him and bring him the            may  give  its  tacit  approbation  or
tance before God.                          Word of God which alone can save           approval of the sinner's being re-
    The  churches,  therefore,  wel-       him.                                       instated.  Because the congregation
comed  repentant  sinners  even                It ought to be noted that often,       approved of the excommunication,
though such sinners may have been          when discipline is applied, the sin-       she must also approve of the read-
excommunicated.    At  first               ner will ask for his dismissal pa-         mission.  Still more, if reconcilia-
consistories and classes regulated         pers.  Rarely will an impenitent sin-      tion is to be accomplished, the re-
the reinstatement of banned mem-           ner  allow  the  process  to  be  com-     pentant  sinner  must  be  received
bers  without  a  regulating  rule  in     pleted with the application of the         into  the  fellowship  of  the  church
the   Church  Order.    It  was  soon      "last, extreme remedy."  When the          and restored to the communion of
found,  however,  that  uniformity         sinner resigns his membership and          the  faithful.    The  congregation
was desirable.  Thus Article 78 was        is granted  dismissal papers he  in        must  receive  him  when  he  seeks
formulated  and  added  to  the            effect  excommunicates  himself            her fellowship once again.
Church Order by the Dutch synod            from the church of Christ.  There-             Thus  the  form  asks  the  peni-
of 1586.                                   fore, when such a one desires to be        tent to "declare here with all thine
    The procedure to be followed           reconciled with the Lord and His           heart before God and his church;
for the reconciliation of excommu-         church, this should take place only        that thou art sincerely sorry for the
nicated sinners is carefully laid out      upon sufficient evidence of sincere        sin  and  stubbornness  for  which
in the article.  Two conditions must       repentance.    In  most  instances,  if    thou hast been justly cut off from
be met.  First, the one who has been       not  in  all,  readmittance  of  such      the church?"  Further, the penitent
excommunicated must desire to be           penitent sinners should take place         is asked whether he believes God
reconciled to the church.  The sin-        in public.                                 has forgiven him and whether he
ner  himself  must  desire  this  and          When  the  elders  have  deter-        truly desires to be readmitted into
make this known to the elders of           mined  that  the  repentance  of  the      the church of Christ and whether
the church.  It must not be some-          sinner is genuine, they must take a        he promises to live in all godliness

358/Standard Bearer/May 1, 1998


according to the command of God.               low-citizen with the saints, and of      ent congregation.  This is permis-
                                               the household of God.
When the penitent answers to these                                                      sible,  but  only  if  such  reconcilia-
questions, "Yes, verily," the minis-                                                    tion takes place in close coopera-
                                                 The  form  concludes  with  a
ter  declares  him  to  be  "absolved                                                   tion with the consistory which ex-
                                             prayer of thanksgiving to our "gra-
from  the  bonds  of  excommunica-                                                      communicated  him,  and  with  its
                                             cious God and Father."
tion."                                                                                  consent.
                                                 It is a blessed day indeed for
        At this point the congregation                                                      May  God  grant  in  His  mercy
                                             that  congregation  of  Jesus  Christ
is exhorted to:                                                                         that the elders and consistories of
                                             when an excommunicated sinner is           the Protestant Reformed Churches
  receive  this  your  brother,  with        thus reconciled with them and the          continue faithfully to exercise the
  hearty  affection;  be  glad  that  he     Lord.                                      keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.
  was dead and is alive, he was lost             It  is  possible  that  the  person    They  must  not  hesitate  to  apply
  and is found; rejoice with the an-         who  was  excommunicated  has              discipline when that is called for.
  gels  of  heaven,  over  this  sinner      moved  away  from  the  church             Only in this way is the church kept
  who  repenteth:  count  him  no            which  excommunicated  him  and
  longer as a stranger, but as a fel-                                                   pure, and only in this way is God's
                                             thus seeks admission into a differ-        name praised.    u

  News From Our Churches                                                                     Mr. Benjamin Wigger

Young Adults Activities                      for  spiritual  fellowship  and            walls are also about ready for wall-
                                             growth.    Discussion  groups  cen-        paper and paint.  On the outside,
Again this year we pass along
        our thanks to the Young Adult        tered in how and when to defend            block work has begun.
Society of the Loveland, CO PRC              our faith, and debates looked at the           First is also looking at a couple
for the fine work they did in serv-          questions  of  Sweepstakes,  Draw-         of changes that  they  could possi-
ing as hosts for their annual Spring         ings, etc., and "Which Do I Sacri-         bly  incorporate  when  they  move,
Retreat.    This  year's  retreat  was       fice First, Family or Church?"  Re-        the  Lord  willing,  into  their  new
held  March  23-26  at  Covenant             portedly  they  even  managed  to          church  home  this  spring.    One
Heights in Estes Park, CO and had            sing "How Great Thou Art" at the           would be a change of their evening
for  its  theme,  "Putting  on  the          top  of  one  of  the  "Twin  Sisters"     start time, from 6:30 to 6:00 PM; and
Whole Armor of God"--Ephesians                mountain peaks, even though the            the other would be a change in the
6:1-20.                                      wind  was  so  strong  one  could          name  for their church, from First
        For the most part, all 38 young      hardly stand up.                           PRC of Holland to Holland PRC.
adults  (from  17  of  our  congrega-            Rev. G. VanBaren, Loveland's               On March 26 the congregation
tions) arrived the weekend before            pastor, spoke about our enemy, the         of the Bethel PRC in Itasca, IL met
the retreat and stayed in homes of           devil,  explaining  that  his  attacks     and approved a proposal to begin
the members of the congregation.             are centered on God's  Word and            construction  of  their  own  church
Saturday, many of them went ski-             God's Cross.  Rev. B. Gritters, pas-       building.    Their  council  also  ap-
ing, though some stayed behind to            tor  of  the  Hudsonville,  MI  PRC,       pointed a committee to investigate
recover from a long car ride.  Sun-          whom    I  thank  for  giving  me  all     various methods of loans, includ-
day was busy in worship, ending              these  details  about  the  retreat,       ing personal notes.  You might also
with  a  singspiration  for  all,  fol-      spoke on the battle and the armor          be interested to note that on March
lowed  by  activities  in  the  church       God gives us to use.  We heartily          29 Bethel celebrated their ninth an-
basement  for  the  young  adults.           echo  Rev.  Gritters'  comment  that       niversary since organization, and,
Monday brought them together for             he would encourage all our young           the Lord willing, they could quite
breakfast at a Loveland restaurant,          adults  to  start  making  plans  for      possibly  celebrate  their  tenth  in
registration,  and  the  ride  to  the       1999's retreat.  The Lord willing, it      their  own  church  home.    What  a
camp  at  the  foot  of  Long's  Peak,       will be another great time.                date to remember!
one  of  the  highest  mountains  in                                                        The  Choral  Society  of  the
Colorado.                                    Congregational Activities                  Hudsonville,  MI  PRC  presented
        The  Young  Adults  spent  the
time together enjoying each other's          From a March 29 bulletin from their  annual  Spring  Concert  for
                                                the  First  PRC  in  Holland,  MI,      their congregation on March 29.
company and showing their desire             we find an update concerning their
                                             church building project.  On the in-       Minister Activities
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant     side,  the  drywall  has  been  com-       Rev. B. Gritters has declined the
Reformed  Church  of  Hudsonville, Michi-    pleted and the ceilings have been              call  he  had  been  considering
gan.                                         sprayed  (textured).    The  interior      from the South Holland, IL PRC.

                                                                                                    May 1, 1998/Standard Bearer/359


     The
Standard
 Bearer                                                                                                                          PERIODICAL
                                                                                                                                 Postage Paid at
   P.O. Box 603                                                                                                                  Grandville,
   Grandville, MI  49468-0603                                                                                                    Michigan


Evangelism Activities                                     The Evangelism Society of the                  sonal  experience  in  coming  to  a
Rev. M. DeVries, pastor of the Randolph, WI PRC recently spon- clearer understanding of this truth.
     First  PRC  in  Edmonton,                       sored their annual Spring Lecture.
Alberta, CN, was able to speak to                    Rev.  A.  Spriensma,  pastor  of  the                            Food For Thought
a  recent  Senior  High  Religious                   Grandville,  MI  PRC,  spoke  on                         "Be not wiser than God; train
Studies  Class  at  Parkland  Im-                    "God's Covenant of Grace:  Agree-                   your children as He trains His."
manuel Chr. School on the subject                    ment  or  Relationship?"    Rev.                                                  -J.C. Ryle   u
of  the  King  James  Version  of  the               Spriensma spoke from his own per-
Bible.

                                                           ANNOUNCEMENTS

      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
     The  Mary  Martha  Society  of  Hope                                                                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                                    CALL TO SYNOD!!
PRC in Redlands expresses their Chris-                                                                        The  consistory  and  congregation  of
                                                          Synod 1997 appointed Hope Protestant
tian sympathy to fellow members Jeanne                                                                   the  Immanuel  PRC  express  their  Chris-
                                                     Reformed  Church,  Walker,  MI  the  calling
Jabaay,  Janine  Meelker,  and  Laurie               church for the 1998 Synod.                          tian sympathy to Rev. Rodney and Mrs.
Jabaay and their families in the death of                 The  consistory  hereby  notifies  our         Sharon Miersma in the death of Sharon's
their mother and grandmother,                        churches that the 1998 Synod of the Protes-         father,
          MRS. HATTIE VER HEY.                       tant Reformed Churches in America will con-                       PETER VAN DYKE.
     May they find comfort in the words of           vene, the Lord willing, on Tuesday, June 9,              May they experience the grace and
                                                     1998 at 9:00 
John  11:25,  "I  am  the  resurrection  and                          A.M. in the Hope Protestant Re-    mercy  of  our  God,  with  the  words  from
                                                     formed Church, Walker, MI.
the life; he that believeth in me, though                                                                Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things
                                                          The  Pre-Synodical Service will be  held
he were dead, yet shall he live."                                                                        work together for good to them that love
                                                     on Monday evening, June 8, at 7:30 P.M.  Rev.       God, to them who are the called accord-
                                                     Koole, president of the 1997 Synod, will preach
      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                         the  sermon.    Synodical  delegates  are  re-      ing to his purpose."
     The  congregation  and  council  of             quested to meet with the consistory before the                 Elder Clayton DeGroot, Vice-pres.
Grandville  Protestant  Reformed  Church             service.                                                               Elder Wilbur Linker, Clerk
expresses their sincerest sympathy to Mr.                 Delegates in need of lodging should con-
and  Mrs.  Roger  Veldman  and  family,  in          tact  Mr.  Harry  Langerak,  O-356  Begole  St.           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                     S.W., Grand Rapids, MI, 49544.  Phone:  (616)
the loss of Mr. Veldman's mother,                                                                             The consistory of Southeast PRC ex-
                                                     453-7317.
          MRS. MARTHA VELDMAN.                                                                           presses Christian sympathy to the friends
                                                                                       Consistory of
May  our  gracious  God  comfort  them  by                                                               and loved ones of
                                                                             Hope PRC, Walker, MI
His  Word.    "And  I  heard  a  voice  from                                                                        GERLOF VANDER BAAN,
                                                                            Harry Langerak, Clerk.
heaven saying unto me, "Write, Blessed                                                                   whom the Lord recently took to glory.
are the dead which die in the Lord from                                                                       "Precious in the sight of the LORD is
henceforth:  Yea, saith the Spirit, that they                                                            the death of his saints" (Psalm 116:15).
                                                           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
may rest from their labors; and their works                                                                                   Rev. Dale Kuiper, Pres.
                                                          The  consistory  and  congregation  of
do follow them" (Revelation 14:13).                                                                                                    Tim Pipe, Clerk
                                                     the Immanuel PRC extend their Christian
                   Rev. A. Spriensma, Pres.          sympathy  to  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Rodney
                    Mr. David Harbach, clerk                                                                               NOTICE!!
                                                     Miersma, in the death of Rev. Miersma's                  Visit  the  RFPA  home  page  at
                                                     grandmother, at the age of 99,                      www.iserv.net/~rfpa to read a featured  Stan-
                  NOTICE!!                                          HATTIE VERHEY.                       dard Bearer article, view the RFPA book cata-
     The PR Scholarship Committee is offer-               May  the  family  find  comfort  in  the       log, and order the Standard Bearer and RFPA
ing scholarships for the 1998-1999 school year                                                           books via a secure server.  Visa, Mastercard,
for students studying for education or the min-      words of Psalm 116:15, "Precious in the             Discover,  and  American  Express  cards  ac-
istry.    Please  contact  Joyce  Holstege  (616)    sight of the Lord is the death of his saints."      cepted.
662-5018 for application forms and essay top-                    Elder Clayton DeGroot, Vice-pres.            Or send your inquiries or orders by e-
ics.  Entries are due by June 15th.                                      Elder Wilbur Linker, Clerk      mail to rfpa@iserv.net.

360/Standard Bearer/May 1, 1998


