                                         The
                   SB"d"d
                                                  earer
A Reformed
Semi-Monthly



                                                                                   In This Issue:
                   Meditation - Rev. Rodney G.  Miersma
                              Our Glorious Inheritance Reserved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
                   Editorial  - Prof. David J.  Engelsma
                              The Running of the White Horse (1) e.............................................   4 3 6   '
                   Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .438
                   Taking Heed to the Doctrine  -  Rev. Steven R. Key
                              Christ, the Mediator of the Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
                   Search the Scriptures  -  Rev. Mitchell C. Dick
                              Just 7006 Miracles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
                   Special Article  - Rev. Dale H. Kuiper
                              The Christian and Entertainment (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
                   Ministering to the Saints  - Rev. Douglas  J. Kuiper
                              The History of the Diaconate (3)
                              Its Place in Christendom since the Reformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
                   That  ihey May Teach Them to Their Children  - Prof. Russell  J, Dykstra
                              WAat We Must "Get"  in the School Year 1999-2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
                   Comef Lord Jesus  - Rev. Cornelius Hanko
                              Signs of the Times
                               8. The Worldwide Spread of the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
                   News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454





Vol. 75, No. 19
August, 1999


            Our Glorious Inheritance Reserved

                                                   To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not
                                           away, reserved in  heaven  for  you, who are kept by the  power of  God
                                           through faith unto salvation  rencly  to be revealed in the last fime.
                                                                                                                              I Peter  1:4,5

A                                                                 hope stretches  into  the inheritance.                               Fndeth not.  Corruption is from
              n inheritance for the people                               A glorious inheritance it is. No                     the outside; fading away is from the
              of God, strangers in this                           human words can adequately de-                              inside. Something fades away be-
              world because of their elec-                        scribe its beauty. The future in-                           cause of a lack of vitality, a lack of
tion by God. They are citizens of                                 heritance cannot be compared with                           proper strength to endure forever.
another country, an heavenly coun-                                anything here below. It is heavenly                         All things on earth  possess~ a cer-
try. For it they live and labor, strive                           and cannot be adequately de-                                tain power to be and to live, but
and suffer, willing to lose their life                            scribed in language that is of the                          that power is limited, so that sooner
for it. All because they have been                                earth. The only thing that we can                           or later they fade away. A flower
begotten unto a living hope                                       do is speak of it in negative terms.                        dies when the wind blows over it,
through the resurrection of Jesus                                       Incornrpfible.  Corruption is the                     but it also dies because it has lim-
Christ.                                                           destruction of anything by forces                           ited strength. No matter how beau-
       To them Peter gives encourage-                             external to it. A thing is corrupt-                         tiful, it will soon wither and fade
ment and comfort with the hope of                                 ible when it is exposed to these                            away. So we also quickly fade
the eternal, incorruptible inherit-                               forces that tend to destroy it, its                         away. Threescore and ten or four-
ance that fadeth not away. They are                               power and beauty, its life and be-                          score years measure the limits
in the fiery furnace of affliction and                            ing. In this world all things are cor-                      within which our vitality is con-
they long for the realization of their                            ruptible and corrupted. In our bod-                         sumed. We bend our head, incline
hope. They know that the inherit-                                 ies we carry these forces in our                            to the grave, and pine away. But
ance is theirs and that there is noth-                            blood, bones, and flesh. They are                           that inheritance possesses an inex-
ing that can take it away. Their                                  in the food we eat, the water we                            haustible strength, so that its beauty
                                                                  drink, the air we breathe. We in no                         never fades, for it is inseparably
                                                                  way can resist them. In contrast,                           connected to Christ, to the everlast-
Rev. Miersma is pastor of  Immanuel  Prot-                        our heavenly inheritance cannot be                          ing God.
estant Reformed Church  of  Lacombe,                              attacked by any such destructive                                     Undefiled.  The object of our
Alberta, Canada.                                                  forces.                                                     hope, that inheritance, is not  sub-


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434/Standard  Bearer/August,  1999


ject to the defiling influences of sin.    for us, so we are preserved for it.       us that we give up everything.
This cannot be said of the first           We "are kept by the power of                   When the believer stands firm
Paradise. Even though it was cre-          God." While on earth we have              against these attacks, he can expect
ated righteous and holy, it was sub-       plenty of enemies. The powers of          open hostility. Already present in
ject to defilement. Since the mo-          darkness, that triple alliance of the     the world is the ever increasing
ment of the Fall, all things are de-       devil, the world, and our own sin-        power of the Antichrist. When this
filed, and we defile all things. By        ful flesh, would seek to destroy us.      power reaches its height, there will
the words of our mouth, by the             As a roaring lion the devil goes          be one last attempt to wipe out the
sight of our eyes, and by the touch        about seeking whom he may de-             cause of Christ from the earth.
of our hands we defile. As we walk         vour. He does not seek to be in the            Then there is our worst enemy
through the world we leave a trail         public eye, preferring to work be-        of all, our own sinful flesh. The
of defilement. But the inheritance         hind the scenes, unnoticed, yet al-       devil and the world could not be a
to which we look forward in hope           ways active. Oh you may ignore            threat to us if it were not for our
is beyond defilement. No sin en-           him, forget all about him, or deny        old, sinful nature that is prone to
ters there; it is eternally righteous.     that he exists. He does not mind.         all evil. The one access that the
Indeed, for it is rooted in Christ,        In fact, he much prefers that, be-        powers of darkness have to us is
the Righteous One.                         cause he attacks us when we least         our own inclination to sin. We ex-
    Of this glorious inheritance we        expect it and where our protective        pose ourselves to temptation, often
are assured, for it is eternally re-       armor seems to be weak.                   even invite it, and play with it,
served in the heavens for us. Al-              Helpers he has aplenty. There         even though we are fully aware
ready it is prepared. Already it is        are a host of demons at his com-          that our flesh is weak. No wonder
real. It only awaits to be revealed        mand. As prince of darkness he            that the apostle Paul cried out, "0
in all its beauty and to be given to       also has all wicked men at his dis-       wretched man that  1 am! who shall
its rightful heirs. This inheritance       posal, and they are only too eager        deliver me from the body of this
was prepared in God's sovereign            to do his bidding. All the while he       death?"
and immutable counsel. We, as ob-          is working he is corrupting. He                From every human aspect we
jects of His grace and mercy, are          knows how to twist the truth, cor-        could never resist that triple foe.
foreordained in that counsel to be         rupt the Scriptures, and pervert the      Left to ourselves we could never
heirs of that inheritance. The             facts. As long as the church is on        remain standing. Peter knew this
apostle Paul reinforces this truth in      earth the devil will not rest. He is      from his own experience. Our daily
Romans  8:29,30.                           out to destroy us. Until our dying        experience teaches us that we not
                                           breath this battle will rage on.          only can fall into sin, but actually
    For  whom he did foreknow, he              As mentioned, the second en-          do. We deserve by our constant un-
  also did predestinate to be con-         emy is the world of wickedness.           faithfulness that God should give
  formed to the image of his Son,          God has called His people out of          us over to our sins and cast us
  that he might be the firstborn           the midst of the world as a sepa-         away forever.
  among many brethren. Moreover
  whom he did predestinate, them           rate people to tell His praises. It is         Yet, in the midst of all these
  he also called: and whom he              for this reason that we are strang-       threatening dangers, we are en-
  called, them he also justified: and      ers in the world. We have no fel-         circled by an armor that no weapon
  whom he justified, them he also          lowship with the unfruitful works         of the enemy can penetrate. We are
  gIorified.                               of darkness; we are in the world,         invincible, indestructible, always
                                           but not of the world. For this rea-       victorious. Positively, we are kept
    The ultimate reason why this           son the world seeks to destroy us,        in the power of God. He surrounds
inheritance is already prepared is         for our very presence in her midst        us with His protective care, for we
that it is centrally realized in Jesus     condemns her in her wickedness.           are His cherished possession. He
Christ. By His death on the cross          The world hates us and tries to           has redeemed us unto Himself by
He merited the inheritance for His         make our existence upon the earth         the death of His own Son on the
brethren, thus making us co-heirs          impossible. Sometimes she does            cross. He has exalted Christ to
with Him. The beginning of His ex-         this in a very subtle way. She wel-       heaven, where He intercedes for us
altation was His resurrection and          comes us into her places of enter-        and prepares a place for us that we
His being received into that inher-        tainment, and in every other way          may be where He is. God has com-
itance. Then, having ascended into         will suggest a little tolerance and       mitted to Christ the preservation
heaven, and being seated at the            compromise. But her compromise            and salvation of the saints. That is
right hand of God, He was filled           always and only means that we             Christ's chief concern, so that He
with the Spirit and all the gifts nec-     completely sacrifice our principles       e x e r c i s e s   t h e   p o w e r   o f   G o d
essary to realize our final salvation.     to join her ranks. The world never        whereby we are kept.
    As that inheritance is reserved        gives up anything, but expects of              That power is God's power,

                                                                                                August,  7999fitandard Bearer/435


therefore, an almighty power. Since       our faith through these afflictions.        battle is not against flesh and
all power belongs to Him, even the            Thereby we realize our own              blood, but against all the powers
devil and wicked men are depen-           weakness and our dependence                 of darkness. In that battle we need
dent upon Him. In spite of them-          upon Him, so that we cry to Him             an armor that can only be supplied
selves, they can only carry out His       for help, and He hears us. He gives         to us out of the spiritual arsenal of
purpose. So while, on the one hand,       us grace to stand in the evil day.          God. We need the power of God
we have an enemy that we our-             And even when we through weak-              working in us and through us, that
selves can never resist or conquer,       ness do fall into sin, God makes us         we may stand in the evil day. We
it is equally true, on the other hand,    sincerely sorry for our sins, brings        need a living faith, that can meet
that we are kept by the power of          us to repentance, and assures us of         all the onslaughts of darkness.
God in perfect security.                  His pardon. Thus we grow in grace               Stand, therefore, not in your
    Peter describes the manner of         and become strong in the faith,             own strength, but in the strength
this preservation as being "through       even as an oak tree forces its roots        of God, following the Captain of
faith." Faith certainly is not the        deeper into the ground to resist the        your salvation to victory. For our
work of mere man. God's protec-           raging storms. We are kept by the           salvation is ready and waiting.
tion is not dependent upon our be-        power of God, enduring even to the          Soon we will leave this battlefield
lieving and continuing in the faith,      end.                                        with all its anguish and trials. Then
as if God's power were active in              Does this make us careless and          we will enter into the glory of
us only if and when we believe and        lax, so that we do not resist evil          Christ with the saints who have
stand in the faith. No, faith is the      because we are confident that we            gone before. The day will soon be
gift of God apart from which the          will be saved anyway? The truth             here in which Christ will return
Holy Spirit does not work. God            can never make us careless. How             upon the clouds of heaven, and
does not treat us like robots, which      can we love sin, when we have               then the final glory will be revealed
respond only mechanically to the          learned to hate it? How can we be-          in all its perfection.
will of God. Nor does God protect         come friends with Satan and the                 Now we suffer for a time, in
us while we sit serenely by, un-          world, when we have become spiri-           order to be glorified with Christ
aware of the dangers that threaten        tually separated from them? Faith           forever. We know that nothing can
us. No, God wants us to be con-           causes us to be enemies of all that         separate us from His love. God is
fronted by the enemy. He wants us         is of darkness, even as we are made         for us. Who can be against us? In
to realize our danger and experi-         friends of God and heirs of salva-          all these things we are more than
ence the terrors of our battle            tion.                                       conquerors. In that faith we stand.
against spiritual powers of wick-             Thus Scripture urges us to put          We watch and wait. For faith is the
edness that threaten to destroy us.       on the whole armor of God, for our          victory that overcomes the world.
He wants to prove and strengthen                                                                                          0



                            The Running of the
                                     White Horse (I)*

                                              And  I saw  when the Lamb  opened one  of  the seals, and I heard, as it were
                                          the noise of thunder, one  of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
                                              And I saw,  and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and
                                          a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
                                                                                                           Revelation  6:1,2
* The text of the address given at
the graduation exercises of the
Protestant Reformed Theological
                                                                                      week of June 6.
land, MI.                                 The white horse of Revelation Church of Holland, Michigan the
Seminary on June 14, 1999 in  Hol-                 6:2 ran in the building of the
                                                   First Protestant Reformed              It was wonderful to behold.

436/Standard  Bearer/August, 7999


    For the white horse with its          Lamb's opening the first of the                        He Shall Have Dominion,  1992, p.
rider is the preaching of the gospel      seals that seal the scroll in the right                403). Thus, antichrist, or  anti-
of Jesus Christ. And a man who            hand of the triune God on His                          Christian Rome, is acknowledged as
had been trained by the churches          throne, the white horse with its                       the victorious hero in history, "con-
was approved by examination be-           rider is huge in the time and space                    quering and to conquer." Where
fore the synod of the Protestant Re-      of our world. Sizable as the fol-                      does this leave Christ? What does
formed Churches and was declared          lowing three horses are-war! eco-                      this imply concerning His power
a candidate for the ministry of the       nomic realities with all their social                  in the world, to establish and ex-
Word and Sacraments.                      consequences!           death!-they are                tend His kingdom? Is this not
    Indeed, the white horse ran           overshadowed by the white horse.                       "pessimism" and "defeatism"?
through all the deliberations of the      The titanic figure of the beast in                         That the white horse with its
Protestant Reformed synod, inas-          Revelation 13 is a peanut in com-                      rider represents the powerful pres-
much as they all had as their pur-        parison with the white horse. Even                     ence of Jesus Christ in New Testa-
pose the preaching of the gospel,         the monstrous dragon, whose tail                       ment history is evident. First,
whether in the local churches, on         drew the third part of the stars of                    Scripture's witness to God's exal-
the mission field, or at the semi-        heaven and cast them to the earth                      tation of the risen Christ makes it
nary. This, at bottom, is what the        and who establishes an impressive                      unlawful to say of any other per-
Dordt Church Order means in Ar-           world-empire of daunting power                         son or might that he or it goes forth
ticle 30 when it stipulates that in       and glittering splendor, is dwarfed                    "conquering and to conquer."
the major assemblies "ecclesiasti-        by the white horse and its rider.                          Second, in light of what has
cal matters only shall be trans-              The white horse in its running                     just been revealed in Revelation 5
acted." "Ecclesiastical matters" are      is the great backdrop of the pan-                      of the sovereignty and power of
those that serve the preaching of         orama of the present age as pre-                       Jesus Christ, it is impossible to
the gospel.                               sented by the book of Revelation.                      think of any other conqueror in the
    Because the deliberations and         Better, it is the central figure and                   first verses of chapter 6 than Him.
decisions of the synod had to do          event in this panorama.                                    Third, the similar figure in
with the running of the white                                                                    chapter 19 of a rider on a white
horse, they were weighty.                 Christ in the Gospel                                   horse, which rider is there plainly
    Because the graduation of the             T h e   w h i t e   h o r s e   w i t h   i t s    identified as Jesus Christ, requires
seminarian is very really a stride        crowned and armed rider is the                         us to explain this symbol of Christ,
in the white horse's gallop, this cer-    power of the slain, risen, and ex-                     not of His enemy.
emony is the occasion of celebra-         alted Lamb, Jesus Christ, in the                           Fourth, there is the color of the
tion.                                     world. This power of Christ es-                        horse. The horse is white. The
    For the white horse looms large       tablishes, maintains, and advances                     color white in Revelation and else-
in the history of the world. It           His kingdom. It also defeats and                       where in Scripture is not simply
dominates.      Unleashed by the          destroys the kingdom of man,                           symbolic of victory. But it is sym-
                                          which is the kingdom of Satan. The                     bolic of  heavenly  splendor and vic-
                                          white horse is the  power  of the ex-                  tory. The white horse, as  white
                                          alted Christ in the world inasmuch                     horse, represents  heaven's  triumph,
                                          as it is His  very  presence-not a                     indeed, the triumph of the all-glo-
                                          bodily presence, but a real presence                   rious God.
                                          nevertheless.                                              And, fifth, the Old Testament,
                                              The alternative is to explain the                  which the book of Revelation
                                          white horse as antichrist, or as the                   builds on and develops, presents
                                          antichristian Roman empire. The                        Jesus Christ as the mounted and
                                          premillennialist Harry Bultema,                        heavily armed warrior, who rides
                                          following C. I. Schofield, identified                  victoriously in the world.
                                          the white horse as the antichrist
                                          (Verklaring  van de Openbaring,  1921,                    Gird thy sword upon thy thigh,
                                          pp. 122-124). The present-day                            0 most mighty, with thy glory
                                          Presbyterians who are aggressively                       and thy majesty.
                                          promoting postmillennialism basi-                         And in thy majesty ride prosper-
                                          cally agree with their fellow                            ously because of truth and meek-
                                                                                                   ness and righteousness; and thy
                                          millennialists by identifying the                        right hand shall teach thee terrible
                                          white horse as "the Roman army                           things.
 Rev. Dale Kuiper, Candidate Eriks        victoriously entering Israel toward                        Thine arrows are sharp in the
                                          Jerusalem" (Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.,                      heart of the king's enemies;

                                                                                                              August,  7999/Standard  Bearer/437


 whereby the people fall under            which are attached the sacraments             The preaching of the gospel by
 thee (Psalm  45:3-5).                    and from which discipline may not         the church-this-is served by the
                                          be divorced.                              other three horses that follow.
   The question is, "What  is  the            But this is the reality of the        War, economic realities of riches
power of the exalted Christ in the        white horse only because the              and poverty with their accompa-
world to establish His own king-          preaching of the gospel is truly the      nying social conflicts, and death are
dom and to defeat the kingdom of          Word of Jesus Christ-the Word             only means by which, and ways
the beast?  How  is Christ power-         that He Himself speaks from               along which, the gospel runs its
fully present in this world?"             heaven, the Word that is energized        victorious course.
    Revelation  6:2 does not say.         by the Holy Spirit with all the               The preaching of the gospel by
    But elsewhere Scripture makes         power of His resurrection-life.           the church-this results in the per-
plain that the power of Christ is         Take  this  away, reduce the preach-      secution, martyrdom, and then vic-
His Word, rendered almighty by            ing to a mere human discourse             tory in heaven in the intermediate
His Spirit, and that this Word goes       about  Jesus, and the preaching has       state of those who confess the truth
forth in and through the preaching        no power to establish the kingdom         of the gospel. Such is the teaching
of the church in the office of the        of Jesus Christ against the tremen-       of the fifth seal (vv. g-11).
ministry of the gospel. To refer          dous force of Satan on behalf of the          The preaching of the gospel by
only to the New Testament, this is        kingdom of antichrist. Then the           the church-this, with the realities
the line of biblical teaching that be-    doubtful question must arise:             of the following four seals, contin-
gins with Jesus' own ministry as a        "What  is the power of Christ in his-     ues right up to the end, immedi-
preaching ministry; runs through          tory?"    And even:      "Is there a      ately before Christ's return. Such
the great commission to the               power of Christ in history?"              is the idea of the sixth seal, which
apostles and New Testament                    Since the first of the four horses    consists of the catastrophes and ter-
church, the activity of the apostles      of the Apocalypse is the preaching        ror of the revelation of the wrath
in the book of Acts, and the injunc-      of the gospel, it was a happy coin-       of the Lamb in the great day of His
tion to the church in the epistles;       cidence of providence that the            wrath (vv.  12-17).
and ends in the description of the        name of the public house where the            And the preaching of the gos-
calling of the churches in Revela-        early English Reformers met to dis-       pel by the church in the office of
tion 2 and 3 (Mark  1:14;  16:15; Acts    cuss the gospel and the need to           the ministry-this lends solemnity
1:8; II Tim. 4:2; Rev. 3:7,8>.            spread it was the "White Horse            to the synod of the PRC and joy to
    Inasmuch as Christ's Word is          Inn."                                     the graduation ceremony of a can-
entrusted to the church, and is pro-          The preaching of the gospel by        didate for the ministry in the PRC.
claimed by her, Zechariah  10:3 can       the church-this is first in the coun-     Look closely at the white horse,
say that the LORD makes the con-          sel of God for the present age, be-       and among all its detail you will
gregation "as his goodly horse in         tween the ascension of Christ and         see the 1999 synod of the PRC and
the battle," victoriously fighting the    the end of all things at His return.      the gift of Garrett Eriks to the
battle of the LORD in history.            Such is the significance of the truth     churches as a pastor and teacher.
    White horse, rider, and  bow-         that the opening of the very first                                               0
all together as one figure represent      seal of the scroll is the sending out                                       - D J E
the preaching of the gospel, to           of the preaching of the gospel.                                  (to be concluded)





n  More on Exclusive                      It is an either/or: either you have       pler to admit that Article 69 of the
Psalmody                                  exclusive psalmody or you do not.         Church Order of Dordt does not
I am bewildered by Rev. R. You cannot say that you have ex- promote exclusive psalmody?
   Cammenga's response to Mr.             elusive psalmody when you permit                                     Philip Rainey
Connerley's letter in the May 15,         (and sing) songs other than the                    Portrush, Northern Ireland
1999 issue  of  the  Standard Bearer.     psalms! Would it not just be  sim-




438/Standard  Bearer/August, I 999


      Christ, the Mediator of the Covenant
                              I,

                                                        In Hebrews 9 the same theme           significance of that truth. We must
A                                                   is continued and developed, all the       know our Savior as the Mediator
         s we continue our study of                 focus being on Christ as the fulfill-     of the new covenant. We must
         the doctrine of Christ, we                 ment of the Old Testament sacri-          know His salvation not merely as
         h a v e   y e t   t o   c o n s i d e r    fices and priesthood. "And for this       a pardon of our sins, but as bring-
Christ's specific relationship to the               cause he is the mediator of the new       ing God's covenant with us to re-
covenant of God. Three passages                     testament (covenant, SK), that by         alization. And therefore we must
in the epistle to the Hebrews un-                   means of death, for the redemption        know ourselves as God's covenant
derscore the significance of that re-               of the transgressions that were un-       people in Christ.
lationship.       All three speak of                der the first testament, they which
Christ as the Mediator of the cov-                  are called might receive the prom-        The Covenant
enant. They are Hebrews  8:6, He-                   ise of eternal inheritance" (Heb.             Let us review briefly the con-
brews  9:15, and Hebrews  12:24.                    9:15).                                    cept of the covenant. We also have
    In Hebrews  8:8-10 we read,                         Apparently the translators of         to take note of the idea of the  old
"For finding fault with them, he                    the King James Version were look-         versus the new covenant.
saith, Behold, the days come, saith                 ing ahead to the next three verses            In the first place, the book of
the Lord, when I will make a new                    when they translated the word             Hebrews makes clear, as does all
covenant with the house of Israel                   "covenant" as "testament." For            of Scripture, that God is a covenant
and with the house of Judah: Not                    Scripture points out here that, from      God. His dealings with His people
according to the covenant that I                    one important point of view, the          are  covemnf   dealings. The salva-
made with their fathers in the day                  covenant is similar to our legal tes-     tion that He gives is a  covenant  sal-
when I took them by the hand to                     taments or wills.                         vation.
lead them out of the land of Egypt;                   It is a mistake to equate the               The writer to the Hebrews re-
because they continued not in my                    covenant with a legal agreement or        minds God's people of the essen-
covenant, and I regarded them not,                  contract, as it is often defined. Es-     tial meaning and significance of the
saith the Lord. For this is the cov-                sentially the covenant is very dif-       new covenant when he writes in
enant that I will make with the                     ferent from a legal testament or          Hebrews  &lo, with reference to
house of Israel in those days, saith                will. But there is one aspect of the      that covenant, "I will be to them a
the Lord; I will put my laws into                   covenant that bears the character-        God, and they shall be to me a
their mind, and write them in their                 istic of a testament, and that is that    people." The covenant is that re-
hearts: and I will be to them a God,                a testament goes into effect only         lationship in which God is God to
and they shall be to me a people."                  upon the death of the testator.           His people, and the people of His
    The subject of this particular                  That is, though I may already have        covenant are His people.
section of Hebrews is the covenant                  prepared a will for my wife and               To put it another way, the cov-
of God, and particularly the supe-                  children, that will goes into effect      enant is that relationship of love
riority of the new covenant over the                only after I die. It is that particu-     and fellowship which God estab-
old covenant. So in Hebrews  8:6                    lar matter to which the inspired          lishes and realizes with His people
Christ is called "the mediator of a                 writer calls our attention in point-      in Christ, and in which He gives
better covenant, which was estab-                   ing to the fulfillment of God's cov-      us to enjoy the intimacy of His own
lished upon better promises."                       enant. The new covenant goes into         covenant life as the triune God.
                                                    effect only by the death of Him               Scripture points us to the truth
                                                    who has established that covenant.        that this covenant relationship be-
                                                        Christ is the Mediator of the         tween God and His people is pic-
Rev. Key is pastor  of  fhe Protestant Re-          new covenant.                             tured in Christian marriage. In
formed Church  of  Randolph, Wisconsin.                 We must attempt to grasp the          marriage a special relationship is

                                                                                                         August,  1999/Standard  Bearer/439


established, the primary character-          that Abraham himself knew better                         cent, not just because it follows the
istic of which is  feZZowship,   the fel-    than to look for the fulfillment of                      old covenant. But it is new in that
lowship of love. When God reveals            the promise in the earthly land of                       it is  the real thing!  The covenant is
Himself to us in Christ Jesus, He            Canaan. For we read in Hebrews                           now realized in its highest, most
establishes with us a relationship           11 that Abraham "looked for a city                       beautiful form  - that is, on this
in which we enjoy the feliowship             which hath foundations, whose                            side of heaven. For God has be-
and love of His own life, and we             builder and maker is God." And                           come flesh, to dwell among us, to
in turn love Him as our God and              so that there might be no doubt                          take us into the fellowship of His
Redeemer.                                    that Hebrews  11:lO speaks of the                        own life! The tabernacle of God is
                                             heavenly  Canaan, we read in verse                       with men!
The Old and New                              16, "But now they desire a better                                Jesus Christ has become the
    We face  a  question, however,           country, that is, an heavenly:                           Mediator of the covenant!
in that Hebrews refers to the old            wherefore God is not ashamed to
covenant and the new covenant.               be called their God: for he hath pre-                    Christ as the Mediator
Does this not point to two differ-           pared for them a city."                                  of the Covenant
ent covenants? And how, if there                  The same failure to understand                              How extremely important is
is an old covenant and a new cov-            this distinction that is made be-                        this work of Christ as Mediator of
enant, is it possible to speak of the        tween the old and new covenant                           the covenant! He is the One who
covenant as a relationship of love           has also contributed in no small                         alone can bring about the covenant
and fellowship.7 Isn't the idea of a         part to the denial of infant baptism.                    fellowship between God and His
contract or legal agreement much             For if the covenant of God in the                        people. He is the One who alone
more fitting to the idea of an  old          New Testament age is now essen-                          is able to realize the blessings of
and a  new  covenant?                        tially different from that in the Old                    the covenant, and make them ours.
    It would appear, from a cur-             Testament, then certainly the sign                       Without Him as  Mediator  there can
sory reading of Hebrews 8 and 9,             of the covenant, besides having a                        be no covenant of God with men.
that there are two different cov-            different form, will also have a dif-                            Any fellowship of friendship
enants being referred to, and that           ferent meaning and application.                          and love between the majestic and
the first was set aside for some rea-             So our understanding of "old"                       perfectly holy God and fallen and
son and replaced by the second. Is           and "new" covenant is critically                         depraved men is absolutely impos-
it, perhaps, that the old covenant           important.                                               sible without a Mediator  - with-
is the covenant of the law, and the               In answer to those questions                        out God's Mediator, Jesus Christ.
new covenant is the covenant of the          about the reference to old and  new,                     The reason is clearly expressed by
gospel? Was the old a covenant of            we must understand that Scripture                        Isaiah in Isaiah  59:2, when he tells
works, while the new is a covenant           teaches only one, everlasting cov-                       the church, "Your iniquities have
of grace?                                    enant. It is the covenant of grace.                      separated between you and your
    But it is exactly this error of               That covenant was established                       God, and your sins have hid his
making separation between the Old            with the one people of God, the                          face from you, that he will not
and New Testaments and speaking              true, spiritual children of Abraham.                     hear."
of two essentially different cov-            Galatians 3 summarizes the teach-                                When two have become es-
enants that has led to several other         ing of the entire Old Testament on                       tranged to this degree, there can
serious theological errors.                  this point. "Now to Abraham and                          be no reconciliation, there can be
    In fact, the failure to under-           his seed were the promises made.                         no fellowship, there can be no
stand these passages of Scripture            He saith not, And to seeds, as of                        peace, apart from the work of a
has.contributed to the development           many; but as of one, And to thy                          mediator.
of dispensationalism in its various          seed, which is Christ" (Gal.  3:16).                             Christ is the Mediator of the
forms. It has led to the idea that                To Christ was the promise                           covenant. He is so by appointment
we must look for a future special            given. In Christ was the covenant                        of God. He is so as a wonder of
work of God with the Old Testa-              established. All the focus comes                         God's sovereign grace.
ment nation of Israel. There are             together  in Him.                                                The covenant is indeed a cov-
multitudes in this country and                    What about Abraham's other                          enant of grace.
around the world who believe that            children? The apostle goes on to                                 God appointed Christ as Me-
the promise  made~  in the old cov-          explain in Galatians  3:29: "And if                      diator of the covenant. We had
enant was an earthly promise to the          y e   b e   C h r i s t ' s ,   t h e n   a r e   y e    nothing to do with that, nothing'at
Jews which must yet find fulfill-            Abraham's seed, and heirs accord-                        all.
ment in the earthly land of Canaan.          ing to the promise."                                             God sent Christ in the incarna-
    That error is especially striking             The new covenant is new not                         tion as Mediator of the covenant.
given the testimony of Scripture             merely by virtue of being more re-                       We had nothing to do with that,

449/standard  Bearer/August, 7999


nothing at all.                              called might receive the promise of       work as Mediator today.
    And as the Mediator Christ has           eternal inheritance."                         The exalted Christ still works
reconciled us to God and realized                Jesus Christ sealed the cov-          as Mediator of the covenant today.
that everlasting covenant of grace           enant with his own blood. He sat-         On God's behalf He is teaching us
with us, in which we now stand               isfied God's justice in or%+ place and    as our Prophet; He is interceding
and are called the SOMS  of  God, His        on our behalf. He delivered us            for us as our only High Priest; and
friends.                                     from the curse of the law, that law       as King He is ruling us by His
    In order to accomplish that              that was so prominent under the           Word and Spirit.
work, Christ had to die. Hebrews             old covenant. That belonged to His             Through Him and Him alone
9:15 emphasizes that amazing work            work as Mediator, Mediator of the         we enjoy the riches of God's fel-
of Christ our Mediator. "And for             covenant, Mediator between God            lowship, the life of His love.
this cause he is the mediator of the         and His elect people.                          All that awaits us is the per-
new testament, that by means of                  And upon this particular, re-         fection.
death, for the redemption of the             demptive sacrifice as Mediator of              It  strreZy  awaits us, because of
transgressions that were-under the           the covenant depends all Christ's         Christ, the Mediator of the cov-
first testament, they which are                                                        e n a n t .   0





                          Just 7006 Miracles
                                                (John  19:31-42)

                                             for a tornado, you start thinking              Strangest thing, though, when
                                             "Which corner of the basement?"           it comes to miracles. When it
     "Nobody Ignores A Tornado"              And if you've been in one-1 mean          comes to things which act accord-
is the title of an article by Keith          if you in your shuddering  about-         ing to no law of nature, events in
Sikkema, published in the April,             to-be airborne pick-up just barely        which God by His arm or finger or
1999 issue of the  Reformed Perspec-         beat out a funnel cloud when it           prophet or incarnate Son moves or
tive.  Nice article about tornadoes.         roared through Standale, or if            speaks directly, and extraordinar-
Important advice given in it about           you've been asleep in bed once            ily . . . then there is this ignoring.
how we should seek shelter when              when the roof was taken off, or           You see it all through history, this
a tornado threatens. Glory given             been taken up and whirled around          widespread ignoring o f   t h e
to the God of tornadoes before               with the bathtub and the house cat        miracles of God. Pharaoh is a case
whose power and wisdom we must               and the  gladiolas  and then depos-       in point. He ignored them all the
bow when we behold His right                 ited a few miles down the road,           way to the bottom of the sea. Be-
arm's might revealed in the devas-           and lived to tell about it-well,          fore that there were the scoffers in
tation of such storms.                       then you certainly do not ignore          the days of Noah. They ignored
     Nobody ignores a tornado. I             tornadoes. All you need is for            God's prophetic Word-miracle, and
guess that's right. It is hard, when         someone to say "Dorothy" (or              His ark-miracle, until His  flood-
skimming through such an article,            "Mitch," I suppose) and you're            miracle took them all the way to
to refrain from an audible "wow."            outta here...!                            the bottom of the sea. The Jews in
If you see and feel on a sultry                  Fact: nobody ignores a tor-           Jesus' day are another case. "Show
spring day when the sky turns                nado!    Some people might not            us a sign!" they demanded of Jesus,
 green that the conditions are right         know anything about them. But             after He had abundantly proven by
                                             then they are just ignorant of them.      His Wonder-presence, wonderful
                                             If they knew anything, just some-         words, and wonderful works that
                                             thing, of the reality of tornadoes,       He is Messiah. Their ignoring The
Rev. Dick is pastor  of  Grace Protestant    they would and could never ignore         Wonder got them free passage to
Reformed Church in Standale, Michigan.       them.                                     the bottom of hell.

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    And so it is today. People will            What fools. What sinful ignor-      ing. Now grace, and the  Spirit-
not and do not ignore a tornado.           ing. We know the reason: ignore         wind of God, have given you to
But they carry on, business as             the Christ of God and you ignore        fear no wrath even from the holy
usual, doing the dishes, eating and        God, and sin, and the call to holi-     Lord of the universe and to know
drinking, marrying and giving in           ness and love and such hard things      a-nd to love the Wonder, and the
marriage, saving rain forests, fan-        - all of which sinners love to ig-      Father of the Wonder!
tasizing and lining up to see wars         nore! And, ignoring, and therefore          Our study today is all about
among the stars, selling us faster         denying God and His name, Won-          not ignoring the Calvary tornado.
computers, drinking beer, fornicat-        derful, you get to focus on man,        Indeed, it is about adoring that
ing, and shooting up the place with        and man's goodness. And you get         Wonder which blew away sin and
no fear, no wonder, and generally          to pretend you can have a mean-         laid the foundation for an amazing
uninterested and unimpressed               ingful life and a place in heaven       house, the church.       The cross it-
when apprised of the truth of the          by establishing your own religion       self is the focus of our attention as
Wonders of God.                            consisting in saving whales, and        we examine the record in John and
    Especially is there this blatant       feeding the poor, and accepting ev-     the other gospel accounts. I know
and widespread ignoring of the             erybody and everybody's views as        you will not ignore it, or pass
miracle of Christ Jesus of Nazareth        equal, and volunteering to clean        lightly over it. For that Wonder is
- the  Wolzder of God. "Once upon          up after tornadoes.                     for your life! Nobody who knows
a time there was a kind, loving,               But this ignoring of God's          the love of God ignores that cross,
and noble man who was killed for           miracle-Christ and miracle-cross is     that saving storm, and that awe-
standing up for what he believed.          not, I trust, for you, dear reader!     some peace after the storm!
It wasn't very nice of those people        Grace has made you a believer. Be-          The cross itself. The salvation
to kill him. He was such a nice            lieving, you ignore no miracle. Af-     storm of our attention. The object
guy. The end." To the unbeliever,          ter all, the miracle of grace has       of our boast. Wonder of God. But
that's the message of Christ and the       lifted you up, and spun you             what is this? Other miracles too,
cross, the gospel, and ethics.             around, and landed you, safe and        accompanying, attending, articulat-
Hardly an F5. Hardly worth a               sound, in the land of the kingdom       ing our Savior's death. God knew
"WOW," or running for cover. Not           of heaven. All because of that          even His own would need them to
something that's going to lift you         cross-storm when and where the          enhance their faith and increase
up and turn you around. True,              wrath-wind of God came  God-            their godly excitement about the
some across the ages and around            miles an hour bearing down upon         salvation of God. Do you know
the planet say they have been              the Son, and crushing Him, but          the others? I count 7006.
moved by this Jew from Galilee.            also crushing your sin into noth-
And these promote his cause. But
his cause/their cause  - how is it
so different, so earth-busting dif-
ferent from this, that, and the other
cause the religious meteorologists
tell us has now come rolling in?
We've seen people get hyped up
about this person, this philosophy,        1. The darkness                         sin? Of the humanity and suffer-
this book and that. They all claim         (cf. Matt.  27~45; Luke 23:44, 45)      ing of the Savior? Of the love of
to be something great, and THE                 In an earlier article (April 15,    God?)
way, and to offer the brightest of         1999) we mentioned the darkness
hopes. Christianity? It bores. Seen        which occurred on the cross at              How do Scriptures such as
one religious storm, seen them all.        about noon, after Jesus had hung        Psalm  22:l; Psalm 89: 38ff.; Isaiah
Seen one intolerant bigot, seen a          there three hours. Let us review.       53; II Corinthians  5:21; Galatians
hundred.            Heard one Christian    What indications were there that        3:13; I Peter  3:lS; and others con-
prophet (just out of the slammer           this darkness was no eclipse or         firm the sermon of the darkness?
for bilking the flock of millions) tell    other natural phenomenon, but a
us a comet is soon going to crash          miracle of God?                             What would you say is the real
into the earth, and if I hear another                                              wonder  of the darkness?
I'll fall asleep. Seen one Jesus,              What words did Jesus utter at
heard ten. Not one has moved               the end of the three hours of dark-     2. The rending of the veil
me.... Not like they do in Kansas!         ness? What is the significance of       of  the  temple  (Matt.  27:50, 51)
                                           these words (Hint: What do they             Most likely the veil that was
         *x-x-**      x-x-**+    et-***    teach of the holiness of God? Of        torn from top to bottom when Jesus

442btandard  Bearer/August, 7999


died was the veil in the temple          many, verse 53.                           6. The miracle of
which separated the  -most holy              About this, Hendriksen makes          Joseph, Nicodemus,  & company
place from the holy place. What          the following observations, obser-           The dying of Jesus and the
description of this veil does Exo-       vations with which I think we can         miracles       accompanying His
dus 26 give? What was the purpose        agree.  First,/these resurrections        miracle-death served to work fear
of the veil? The significance?           were real; there was not an appear-       and/or faith in many people who
                                         ance of corpses to those in Jerusa-       witnessed these things.
    How do we know that this             lem, or just an  appearnnce   of real        There was the Roman centurion
rending of the temple veil at Jesus'     people. Second, these resurrections       (Matt.  27:54), and others, who at
death was a miracle?                     occurred at the moment of Christ's        Jesus' death declared, "Truly this
                                         death, along with the various other       was the Son of God." And accord-
    What does Hebrews  10:19,20          signs, and pointed to the signifi-        ing to the narrative in Luke 23
teach is the significance of this        cance of Christ's death. Third, just      there was a multitude which re-
rending of the veil?                     when these saints arose depends on        turned from the cross smiting their
                                         either of two possible translations       breasts. In John 19 we read of one
3. The earthquake  (Matt.  27~51)        of verse 53. Here they are: "And          Joseph of Arimathaea, who begged
    At the moment of Jesus' death        having left the graves . . . after his    the body of Jesus from Pilate, and
the earth shook and rocks were           resurrection they went..  ." or "And      took it to bury in his own new
torn apart. What proof is there          having left the graves-after his res-     tomb which he had hewn out in
that this earthquake was a miracle?      urrection, they went.. .  ." Fourth:      the rock (Matt. 27). And then there
                                         these resurrections probably were         was Nicodemus, the once `by night
    What might be the significance       not like the resurrection of Lazarus.     disciple" who came also to anoint
of this earthquake (Hint: compare        They probably did not have to die         the body of Jesus with spices.
this earthquake with the earth           again but, having appeared a short            Comment on the various reac-
quaking at Mt. Sinai. If the shak-       time in Jerusalem, they went, body        tions to Jesus' death. Which reac-
ing of the earth at Mt. Sinai was to     and soul, into heaven to be with          tions were fruits of faith? What
show the holiness of God, and the        Jesus.                                    caused these people to be so
sinfulness of sin, and the hopeless-         What is the significance of           moved?
ness of being a sinner under the         these resurrections? What is the
law [and I believe it did show           relation between Christ's death and       7. 7000 who cannot ignore
this!], then what about the shake-       the resurrection of all God's people      the death of Jesus the Christ
up of the earth at Mt. Calvary?)?        (cf. I Cor. 15  & Lord's Day 22 of            The wonder of the cross! Tor-
                                         the Heidelberg Catechism)?                nado winds gyrate at 300 mph in
4. The miracle of the open graves                                                  Kansas or Oklahoma, or Arkansas,
and the resurrection of saints           5. The miracle of                         tear shoes off children, pierce
(Matt.  27:52)                           Scripture fulfilled                       fences with straw, and toss houses
    There is a lot of mystery to this        We read in John 19: 31ff. that,       as if they were mere rose petals.
one! Seems that at the time of the       at the request of the Jews, Pilate        But what greater wind is Calvary!
death of Jesus certain graves,           sent soldiers to break the legs of        Sin-destroying wind! Wind killing
graves probably sealed with stones,      the ones crucified in order to has-       the Son of God! God's wrath-wind!
were opened miraculously by              ten their death and prevent the des-      God's mercy-wind! Church house-
means of the earthquake. Where           ecration of the Sabbath (Should the       building  wind!
the graves were that were opened         Jews also have been thinking of               Yes! So that even today there
we are not told  - maybe just in         Deuteronomy  21:22,23?).                  is this: a people who never saw the
the vicinity of the cross where              But Jesus was already dead!           crucifixion, and yet who believe. It
Christ Himself would be buried.          Instead of breaking Jesus' legs,          is God's remnant according to the
Also  whose  graves were opened we       therefore, a soldier pierced Jesus'       election of His grace. Yes! After
do not know  - the graves of cer-        side with his spear so that blood         the wind of Calvary has died
tain patriarchs.7 Saints who had         and water came out.                       down, and the Savior has been laid
seen Christ and were known by                This all, according to verses 35-     down in the grave, there's this
those yet living? Martyrs? The           37, was to fulfill certain scriptures.    church-town, population 7000, I
only thing we are told is that the       Which ones? What do these ful-            believe, which is discovered to
bodies that were raised from the         filled scriptures preach concerning       have been spared the judgment of
dead were the bodies of saints           Jesus?     Concerning His death?          the Wind of God. Indeed, this
(Matt.  27:52), and that, after they     Concerning the scriptures them-           Church-town, the city of God,  built
rose they went into the holy city,       selves?                                   by this Wind!
Jerusalem, and appeared unto                                                           Well, then, are you in the

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town? The town for which One                  gospel of the blood of the Lamb               Spirit of God, who is, after all, the
died in the F-infinity storm of the           slain for sinners. Maybe we have              One who is not found in ordinary
ages, so that  all  the town might            been regularly and lustily loung-             winds (I Kings  19:11), and who is
live? Are you thankful?                       ing in our microsoft reality. So in           not impressed by the power and
                                              our life, in our prayer-life,  home-          might of men  (Zech.  4:6), work to
     Is it not pitiful, shameful, when        life, church-life, work and play-life         comfort and keep us?
we are not? We sometimes forget.              it is as if the Tornado of which the
We sometimes read of that tor-                Bible speaks never touched down                   The Tornado of tornadoes has
nado-miracle cross of Christ  with-           for us and by us....                          hit the earth.  God is in Christ in
out being moved at all! Maybe it is               Tell me, friends:  how shall we           that whirlwind of the cursed cross rec-
all the bungee jumping, or the pro-           and  our children in this age be strong       onciling sinners to Himself.    Many
fessional wrestling we watch on the           in faith in order to look past the screen,    ignore. They even run from it, and
television. Maybe we have been                beyond Kansas, beyond fairy tales and         warn others to steer a world away
looking.over into the "other'! ~town          vain joy, to see and to glory in the          from it. And you? Extreme folly
by night and marveling at the en-             Wonder  of  God on Calvary?  What             it is to run into the path of a tor-
tertaining Hollywood-gospel of                place will preaching have? Per-               nado.  Wisdom and life to flee to the
Lukas rather than pondering the               sonal spiritual discipline? How can           cross  of  salvation! Cl
                                              we help each other? How does the





     The Christian and Entertainment (2)"

                                              tant Reformed believer because a              is, that God sets vast elements of
                                              battle for this truth was fought and          the children of Adam at enmity
The Antithesis
I                                             won in 1924. That God's grace is              with one another! This is not a
     t is time to ask the question,           particular, always saving, for the            physical separation, but a spiritual
     Does the antithesis enter in             elect alone and never for the rep-            one  - though, to be sure, it im-
     here? What does the truth of             robate, is of extreme importance for          plies a certain measure of physical
the antithesis say to you and to me           the living out of this vital doctrine.        separation as well, in that the child
about entertainment and its proper                The antithesis is the absolute            of God is not found in all the places
place in our lives?                           spiritual separation that God has             where the child of darkness is
     The antithesis is a truth that is        established between the church and            found.
dear to the Reformed believer. It             the world, between those who are                  The life of the antithesis does
is especially precious to the  Erot-          in Christ and those who are out-              not call us to world flight. We are
estant Reformed believer. It is dear          side of Christ, between the believer          called to be in this world, but not
to the Reformed believer because              and the unbeliever. God has called            of this world. As children of light
the antithesis spells his spiritual           us out of the darkness of unbelief,           we are called to be God's party in
safety; and it is dear to the  Protes-        misery, and death, into His mar-              the midst of a dark, perishing
                                              velous light. God has made be-                world. The only fleeing we engage
                                              tween the church and the world a              in is the fleeing from sin and the
                                              cleavage of such a nature that it             very appearance of  sin
                                              can be bridged by nothing! Hav-                   In Psalm  16:5-6 we read, "The
Rev. Kuiper is pastor of Soufheast Profes-    ing made righteous discrimination             Lord is the portion of mine inher-
fant  Reformed Church in Grand Rapids,        between men in eternal predesti-              itance and of my cup:           Thou
Michigan.                                     nation, God establishes this cleav-           maintainest my lot. The lines are
*    This is  d continuation of  the text     age by the power of His grace                 fallen unto me in pleasant places;
of  a lecture given in First Church,          down through the history of the               yea, I have a goodly heritage." The
Grand Rapids, MI on April  22,1999.           human race. What a power that                 child of God has a wonderful  in-

444/Standard  Bearer/August,  1999


heritance, and that inheritance is        that we are not to touch the un-         satisfaction in these desert wastes.
God Himself. God gives Himself            clean  thing.~ There you have it.        And because God is not ashamed
to us in Jesus Christ, in all His maj-    God, Christ, the elect angels, and       to be called our God (Heb.  11:16),
esty, power, riches, and splendor.        elect believers  - all these stand on    we confess, "Whom have I in
And God has drawn lines for us in         one side of the line of the antith-      heaven but Thee? and there is
our lives. Those lines in the Old         esis as covenant friends! On the         none upon earth that I desire be-
Testament were the property lines         other side is the devil, fallen an-      sides Thee!"
that defined the exact piece of           gels, unbelievers, all that love and
ground that each Israelite inherited      make the lie.                            Biblical Guidelines
in Canaan. God forbade that those             Now, whom are you going to               As for biblical direction in the
lines be changed or that property         invite to cross over and stand with      matter of entertainment, we offer
be sold. For us, those lines which        you? Who will be your friend?            for your consideration three broad
have fallen to us in pleasant places      With whom will you have fellow-          guidelines. First of all, everyone
are our children, our doctrines, our      ship, communion, concord, part  -        recognizes that in regard to some
practices drawn out of those doc-         to use the words of the apostle.         of the things that have been men-
trines, our place in the church of        That is the great issue in dating,       tioned (but not all of them) there
Christ and in the congregations,          courtship, and marriage, is it not?      is room for the exercise of Chris-
and ultimately our place in the           But that is also the issue in this       tian liberty. -Members of the body
heavenly Canaan. God has drawn            whole area of entertainment.             of Christ differ as to wealth, abili-
lines for us. They have been mea-         Whom do you invite into your             ties, and callings in life. With these
sured out unto us with gracious           home to entertain you and your           differences come varying opportu-
care! And this means that we must         children electronically? "I will         nities, and no one may make rules
always be busy drawing lines in           walk within my house with a per-         to force everyone into the same
our lives and in the lives of our         fect heart. I will set no wicked         mold. The people of God are alike
children, lines of very definite de-      thing before mine eyes," says            in two respects: everyone must
marcation.                                David. Whom are you always go-           confess the same truth and every-
    The question is, Where do we          ing to be talking about and admir-       one must walk according to God's
draw the lines? The question is           ing? "Him that hath an high look         commandments. For the rest, there
not, Where does my church draw            and a proud heart will not I suffer.     is abundant room for variation and
the lines? We know the answer to          Mine eyes shall be upon the faith-       liberty.
that question. The preaching we           ful of the land," says the man after         Two passages come to mind in
hear every Sabbath Day draws the          God's own heart.                         this regard. Paul writes to the
lines of doctrine and life biblically         Our conclusion is that the en-       Galatians  (5:1), "Stand fast there-
and sharply. Besides, you can read        mity that God has placed between         fore in the liberty wherewith Christ
all about these things in our maga-       the seed of the woman and the seed       hath made us free, and be not en-
zines and pamphlets. But where            of the serpent at the very begin-        tangled again with the yoke of
do you, and where do  I, draw the         ning, the antithesis that God main-      bondage." He is combating the le-
lines personally and daily in our         tains between the church and the         galism of some in the churches
lives and the lives of our families?      world down through the ages,             whereby they were trying to estab-
    It goes almost without saying         must be  applied  by the Christian in    lish part of their righteousness be-
that we must draw the lines of de-        every area of life, and in these last    fore God by the works of the law,
marcation sharply, indelibly, and         days increasingly to the area of en-     especially circumcision. But Christ
without compromise exactly where          tertainment. The place of enter-         has redeemed us from the curse of
God draws the lines in His revela-        tainment in the Christian life is re-    the law, being made a curse for us;
tion to us. And then we must  stick       ally very small, in that we are          He has fulfilled  all  righteousness,
to those lines, and make them stick,      placed on earth to work. The prob-       and therefore we are called to walk
without removing the ancient land-        lems that entertainment present us       in the glorious liberty of the chil-
marks. James writes  (4:4) that the       are really not so difficult if we re-    dren of God. On the other hand,
friendship of the world is enmity         member that we are not citizens of       there is the warning of Galatians
with God, and whosoever is the            this world, with worldly expecta-        5:13, "For, brethren, ye have been
friend of the world is the enemy of       tions, goals, and values; we are pil-    called unto liberty; only use not lib-
God. Paul writes in II Corinthians        grims and strangers on the earth         erty for an occasion to the flesh,
6:14-18 (the classic text for the an-     as our fathers were. Our citizen-        but by love serve one another," and
tithesis) that we are not to be un-       ship is in the kingdom of heaven.        the warning of I Peter  2:16, "As
equally yoked together with unbe-         We declare plainly that we seek a        free, and not using your liberty for
lievers, that we are to come out          better country, that is, a heavenly,     a cloak of maliciousness, but as the
from among them and be separate,          and do not even expect to find any       servants of God."

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    In other words, Holy Scripture        the other children can be very se-      dear children (Eph.  5:l). Christ has
warns us against two great errors,        verely damaged.                         left us an example that we should
legalism and antinomism. Legal-                The table with the family gath-    follow His steps  (I Pet.  2:21). We
ism is the scrupulous keeping of          ered around it talking  - that used     are to follow the apostle Paul and
law and precept with the idea of          to be the center of the home. The       those who are like him (Phil.  3:17).
establishing one's own righteous-         bookcase  with good books and re-       Clearly, the role models we must
ness before God. And antinomism           ligious magazines  - that used to       follow are found in the church, not
is total disregard for the law of         be the place to which we turned         in the world. The elders, the dea-
God. The law of God must not be           when we had a few extra minutes.        cons, the pastors, the saints! Closer
read in church or preached on ac-         But more and more our children          to home, godly fathers by word
cording to the Catechism because          and young people are not reading        and example show the boys and
Christ has fulfilled the law, and I       and are not studying. They tend         young men what the Christian life
am completely free from the law!          to view the home merely as the          is all about. Mothers of meek and
Both positions are wrong, and both        place to be if you do not have any      quiet spirit reveal to the girls and
are wrong as guidelines in the ar-        place else to go. Home is the place     young women how they are to con-
eas of entertainment. But the great       of last resort. Being home is  bad;     duct themselves. "Mine eyes shall
danger for the church and for the         being on the go, that is really liv-    be upon the faithful of the land,"
believer in this present time is not      ing. Oh, no! God puts you in a          says David. "They shall dwell with
legalism. Do not ever think it. The       home with your family.  There  God      me."
great danger is antinomism. No            will nurture, teach, and bless you.         Can-  the Christian have fun?
law for the Christian! Lawlessness        There  He will give you joy and         Yes. Really, he is the only one who
is the spirit of these last times, and    pleasure. So the second guideline       can enjoy life and see good days.
that spirit must not infect the           in the matter of entertainment is       God has put him on the right side
churches. We are not free  from  the      having a strong Christian home          of the antithesis, and God keeps
law, but we are free under  the law!      and family where God is known,          him there. He has a good con-
That truth is so beautifully ex-          feared, and served.                     science as he experiences the lib-
pressed in Psalm  119:45, "And I               Thirdly, something ought to be     erty that is in Christ Jesus. He is a
will walk at liberty, for I seek thy      said about role models, since that      member of the kingdom of righ-
precepts." That is the first guide-       is a word that keeps coming up in       teousness, peace, and joy in the
line. Walking at liberty with the         the media. Who will be the mod-         Holy Spirit.
law of God in our hearts as our           els after which we and our children                      . . . to be continued.  [7
faithful guide.                           pattern our-
    Secondly, because of the em-          s e l v e s ?   T o
phasis that Psalm 101 places upon         whom do we
the home and the sanctified char-         look up, and
acter of the Christian home, some-        to whom do                    God's Children's Perspective
how we must reclaim our homes             we point our
and bring them more in line with          children? God            Thy name, 0 Father, blessed be!
the biblical example. Many of our         does not allow           May we, Thy children, bend the knee.
homes have entertainment centers,         a professional           As earthly chores claim so much time,
a big cabinet or set of shelves, on       athlete to be a          Give grace to see Thy way sublime.
which are placed a television set, a      role model for           These finite tasks are not our goal:
VCR, a tape deck, a CD player, and        the Christian            God's glory  - may it fill our soul.
perhaps a computer with a pile of         o f   a n y   a g e .    Because we're creatures of the dust,
electronic games.          Two things     God does not
stand out here: first, the very pres-                              Set not our minds on things that rust.
                                          allow an actor,
ence of these centers suggests way        a c t r e s s ,   o r    Our interests here are preparation
too much emphasis on entertain-           worldly musi-            For our eternal destination.
ment; and secondly, they encour-          cian to fill this        Grant we may not with might and main
age the wrong kind of entertain-          function for us          Seek earthly glory to obtain;
ment. Also, the use of these things       either. We do            But fill our spirits with Thy love,
draws us away from each other and         need worthy              Our hope  - Thy kingdom up above.
from having fellowship with each          examples to              May our perspective always be
other. Television viewing and end-        f o l l o w .   W e      Not here, but in eternity.
less computer games are very in-          are to be fol-                                             Thelma Westra
dividualistic. Interaction of parents     lowers (imita-
with children, and children with          tors) of God as

446/Standard  Bearer/August, 1999


                                  The History of the Diaconate  (3)
                            Its Place in Christendom
                             since the Reformation

                                              diaconate was a steppingstone to                         the age of 35, but continued to re-
W                                             the priesthood. One writer says                          quire celibacy of an unmarried man
             e have seen that the of-         that "the great majority of Angli-                       who sought the office. For the un-
             fice of deacon as insti-         can deacons spend no more than a                         married, the minimum age was 25.
             tuted in the New Testa-          year in the  diaconate."2 The work                       Such changes the Jesuit Echlin con-
ment church fell into disgrace dur-           assigned to them was, and still is,                      siders to be a "restoration" of the
ing the Middle Ages, when it was              highly liturgical  - assisting at the                    diaconate.3
considered inferior to the priest-            sacraments; bringing the Eucharist                           Similarly, the 1958  Lambeth
hood, and when the deacon was as-             to the sick; and, in the place of an                     Conference          o f   t h e   A n g l i c a n
signed liturgical, pastoral, and ad-          absent priest, officiating at bap-                       Churches recommended that the
ministrative duties, but not the care         tisms, weddings, funerals, and                           local parishes "consider whether
of the poor.                                  other prayer services.                 They are          the office of Deacon shall be re-
        Out of the Reformation came           also given pastoral and educational                      stored to its primitive place as a
new branches of churches  - Re-               duties  - teaching catechism, giv-                       distinct order of the Church, in-
formed, Lutheran, Anabaptist, and             ing instruction to new members                           stead of being regarded as a pro-
Anglican. Each had its own view               and those preparing for marriage,                        bationary period for the  priest-
of church government, and conse-              working with the youth, counsel-                         hood."4
quently its own view of the place             ing those with problems, and work-                           We agree that the diaconate
and work of the diaconate. By a               ing in the community to promote                          ought to be considered an office in
general historical survey of the              social and moral changes. Their                          its own right, and not merely a
diaconate in these churches, we               works of charity include caring for
will see that the Reformed churches           t h e   s i c k ,   p o o r ,   l o n e l y ,   a n d    1. For a treatment of the diaconate in
have done more than the other                 homebound.                                               the Anglican Church, cf.  The Diaconate:
branches of the Reformation to re-                 Within the past fifty years,                        A Full and Equal Order,  authored by
store the office to its rightful place        however, the Roman Catholic                              James M. Barnett. (New York, New
in the church.                                Church and the Anglican Church                           York: The Seabury Press, 1981). For a
                  **rc**                                                                               treatment of the diaconate in the Ro-
                                              have made a notable change in                            man Catholic Church, cf.  The Deacon
        In both the Roman Catholic            their view of the office. At Vatican                     in the Church: Past and Future, authored
Church and the Anglican Church,               II (a Roman Catholic council which                       by Edward P. Echlin,  SJ. (Staten Is-
the view of the diaconate which               met in the early  196Os), Romish                         land, New York: Alba House, 1971).
was popular during the Middle                 clergy approved in principle the                         To both these books I am indebted for
Ages continued to be held for cen-            restoration o f   a   p e r m a n e n t                  much of the information in this sec-
turies after the Reformation.* The            diaconate  - that is, one in which                       tion.
deacons were considered to be su-             men functioned for a lifetime, with-                     2. George Every, "The Diaconate in
perior to the laity but inferior to           out seeking to be promoted to the                        the Anglican Communion," as com-
                                                                                                       piled in 
the priests and bishops.             The      priesthood. The council gave au-                                      The  Minisfry  of  Deacons
                                                                                                       (Geneva: World Council of Churches,
                                              thority to local church leaders to                       1965),  page 49.
                                              make the ultimate decision whether                       3.  E&in,   op. cit.;  chapter 4 (pages
                                              or not they wanted permanent dea-                        95-124) is entitled "From Trent to the
Rev.  Kuiper is pastor  of  the Protesfant    cons. The same council permitted                         Restoration: The Deacon Returns."
Reformed Church  of  Byron Center, Michi-     married men to hold the office of                        4. Resolution 88 of the conference,
gan.                                          deacon, provided they had reached                        quoted in Barnett,  op. cit.,  page 149.

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steppingstone to the priesthood (or,      to the work to which Scripture as-                  cial work, and mission work (the
in our case, to the eldership). For       signs it  - the pastors to teach, the               latter being largely viewed as a
this reason the proposed change is        elders to rule, and the deacons to                  form of social work). This work is
an important change in the right          administer Christ's mercies. Sec-                   often his full time, salaried work,
direction. However, this change           ondly, they must reexamine their                    requiring professional training and
can hardly be considered a resto-         whole manner of worship, and see                    state certification. We are told that
ration of the office, for it accom-       that much of their high liturgy is
plishes far too little, both with re-     irrelevant, even wrong, in light of                   a deacon is understood to be a
gard to the work of the office and        God's command to worship Him                          man who, as a member of an in-
with regard to the position of the        in Spirit and in truth (John  4:24).                  stitution      usually    c a l l e d   a
diaconate in the church.                  Were the deacon to be excused                         Bruderhaus  (Community), has been
    This proposed change does             from these unnecessary liturgical                     trained in specific services - so-
nothing to restore to the diaconate                                                             cial, educational, administrative,
                                          duties, he could concentrate more                     medical, or purely ecclesiastical.
its rightful and basic work of ad-        on the work of mercy.                                 He then practices these forms of
ministering Christ's mercies to the           The office of deacon cannot be                    service professionally, on behalf of
poor and needy. Too much em-              fully restored in these churches if                   his Church, of a church organiza-
phasis is still placed on the liturgi-    such things are not done.                             tion, of a Christian association, or
cal and educational aspects of the                           +++**                              of the public administration, but
office, work which Scripture does             While the Romish and Angli-                       always in agreement with his
not assign to the deacons. Admit-         can churches have done little to re-                  Bruderhazw8
tedly, in these churches the deacon       store the office of deacon, the
is assigned various works of char-        Lutheran branch has been respon-                    This deacon is not ordained, nor
ity including the care of the poor.       sible for its further demise. The                   does he even hold an office in the
He is, however, instructed to "ad-        fact is that the office of deacon, as               church:        "the deacon has been
minister charity in the name of the       Scripture speaks of it, is virtually                given no place which would inte-
hierarchy."5      That is, the bishops    non-existent in the Lutheran                        grate him organically" into the
and priests are considered respon-        churches.                                           church.g
sible for caring for the poor; the            Martin Luther, who desired to                       In evaluation, little need be
deacons merely assist them in this        bring the church back to the Scrip-                 said. This concept of what a dea-
matter. That such is the deacon's         tures, also wanted to reestablish                   con is and does is far different from
fundamental work is ignored.              the office of deacon, claiming that                 that set forth in Scripture, which
    This proposal also does not           "the diaconate is the ministry, not                 clearly teaches that a deacon holds
change the thinking that the              of reading the Gospel or the                        an office in the church (Acts 6:1-6,
diaconate is subordinate and infe-        Epistle, as is the present practice,                I Tim. 3:8-13, Phil.  l:l), and that
rior to the priesthood in a hierar-       but of distributing the church's aid                his work is that of caring for the
chy of offices. Having men remain         to the poor."6                                      poor and needy of the church (Acts
in the diaconate longer will, per-            It was the Lutheran form of                     6:1-6).           *****
haps, emphasize the importance of         church government which pre-
a certain rung in the hierarchy. Af-      vented this ideal from being real-                      The Baptist churches have done
ter all, a ladder needs every rung        ized. The Lutheran churches his-                    better than the Lutheran, Romish,
to be useful and effective. How-          torically have allowed the state to                 and Anglican churches in regard to
ever, the hierarchy is not abolished.     rule the church. So long as the gov-                the work of the diaconate. Origi-
The Romish and Anglican churches          ernment was sympathetic to                          nally the Baptist churches were
must do at least two things in or-        Lutheranism, Luther himself was                     concerned that the deacons care for
der truly to restore the diaconate        content with this arrangement. As                   the church's poor and needy, and
in their midst. First, they must re-      a result, the government also took                  manage the church's finances. In
examine their whole system of             over the work of caring for the                     the latter part of the 1700s in
church  governme-nt.  They must be-       poor. The men in the church who                     America, the view began to be
gin to view each congregation as          were given the title "deacon" were                  popular that the deacons were the
an autonomous body of Christ; the         given the task of preaching, not of                 church's administrators and busi-
congregation,  not the  denomination,     caring for the poor.7                               ness managers. Even then, they
is the church. Furthermore, the of-           T o d a y ,   i n    t h e   L u t h e r a n    continued to serve the tables,
fices of pastor, elder, and deacon        churches in Europe, a "deacon" is                   which meant caring not only for the
ought to be found in each congre-         a member of an organization which                   poor but also for the needs of the
gation. These offices must be con-        is not directly connected to the                    pastor and serving at the Lord's
sidered on a par with each other,         church, but which undertakes some                   table. This latter duty included dis-
and each office must devote itself        work of mercy, such as nursing, so-                 tributing the elements to the  mem-

448/Standard  Bearer/August, 7999


bers, as well as "admonishing those                                The Reformed system of                 has a place in the church, and that
members who failed to attend the                         church government is based on the                its work is the care of the poor and
ordinance, and reporting to the                          scriptural principle that the local              needy.
church anyone who refused to heed                        congregation is in itself a complete                  We have begun to show that
such an admonition.""' Although                          manifestation of the body of Christ,             the Reformed churches have done
it is still common today in Baptist                      in which functions the office of all             more than other branch& of
circles to view the deacons as the                       believers, as well as the three spe-             churches since the Reformation to
church's executive officers, more                        cial offices  - pastor, elder, and               restore the diaconate to its rightful
emphasis is again being placed on                        deacon. Though uniting in a de-                  place in the church. We ought,
the spiritual tasks of the diacondte,                    nomination with other churches of                however, not simply assert this
those of caring for the poor, the                        the same faith to manifest the unity             generally, but demonstrate it more
sick, and the minister, and being                        of Christ's body, each individual                specifically. To do that, we will
busy with  "witn&sing, preaching,                        cdngregation  has the authority to               devote the next article to a more
counseling, worship, education,                          preach the gospel, administer the                detailed treatment of the history of
community projects," and the                             sacraments, exercise church disci-               the diaconate in the Reformed
like."                                                   pline, and care for its poor and                 churches.  0
    T h e   f a c t   t h a t   t h e   B a p t i s t    needy. The churches do this work
churches do  hot have elders (ex-                        through their pastors, elders, and               5. Echlin, op.  cit.,  page  121,  summa-
cept for their pastors)  meafis that                     deacons, believing that Christ Him-              rizing  the papal document  Sacrum
the deacons are really the only                          self works through these men. Fol-               Diaconatus  Or&em  (The Holy Order  of
other people to carry out the offi-                      lowing from these premises, we ar-               Deacons),  which appeared in June of
cial work of the church. Perhaps                         gue that the office of deacon is es-             1967.
this detracts somewhat from doing                                                                         6. Quoted in Charles W.  Deweese,  
                                                         sential in the church, and that the                                                         The
                                                                                                          Emerging Role  of  Deacons,  (Nashville,
the real work of the diaconate; yet                      diaconate is equal to both the  pas-             TN:  Broadman  Press,  1979), page 19.
it is clear that the Baptist churches                    torate and eldership in its author-              7. Cf. Prof. William Heyns,  Handbook
have the office of deacon in their                       ity, although its work differs from              for  Elders and Deacons,  (Grand Rapids:
midst, and are generally  concerned                      that of the other offices.                       Eerdmans,  1928), pages 287-288.
to care for their poor through that                           John Calvin was instrumental                8. Herbert Krimm, "The Diaconate in
office.                                                  in restoring the diaconate to its                the Lutheran Church," as compiled in
    We ought not view our deacons                        r i g h t f u l   p l a c e   i n    Reformed    The Ministry  of  Deacons,  page 54.
as simply business managers, or                          churches.         He deplored the low            9.  Ibid.,  page 55.
church administrators, as has been                       state into which the diaconate had               10. Deweese,  op. cit.,  page 35.
                                                                                                          11.  Ibid,  pages 54-55.
done in Baptist circles. However,                        fallen.12  Convinced that the church             12. Cf. John Calvin,  Institutes  of  the
Reformed churches are not immune                         ought to have the three special of-              Christian Religion,  tmnsl. Ford Lewis
from this same pattern of thinking.                      fices in it, and that the office of dea-         Battles, (Philadelphia: The Westmin-
Because the deacons are included                         con was that of administering                    ster Press,  1960), vol. 2, pages 1088,
in the council of. the church (and                       Christ's mercies, he proceeded to                1097-1098,  1479.
rightly so), they do have some re-                       organize the church along those
sponsibility to oversee temporal                         lines.
matters, such as the church's build-                          That the Reformed churches af-
ing and finances. But we must be                         ter Calvin followed his thinking
careftil that the& works do not de-                      about the place and work of the
tract from the work.of charity with                      diaconate in the church is evident                             REMINDER:
which our deacons must be busy.                          from official statements of the Re-                                      to
                                                         formed churches regarding the of-
    This survey has demonstrated                                                                                      College Students
                                                         fice. We refer particularly to the
that a right (biblical) conception  oi:                  Belgic  C&fession,  Articles  $0  and
the diaconate requires a right con-                      31; to the Church Order, Articles 2                       Please let the  SB  business
ception of church government. Be-                        and 24-27; and to the Form of Or-                         office know your college
cause the Reformed (Presbyterian)                        dination of Elders and Deacons.                           address so we can send
system of church government is                           The view of the diaconate set forth                       the  Standard Bearer  to
more consistent with scriptural                          in these documents is still held and                      you during your time
principles than are the other sys-                       practiced by the Protestant Re-                           away from home.
tems, Reformed churches have had                         formed Churches in America, as
a good foundation on which  to re-                       well as many other Reformed de-
store the diaconatd `to its rightful                     nominations today. These d&u-
pla&.                                                    ments show clearly that the office

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                                               high school and to those who will         for which he must aim. In addition,
                                               sit in the lecture halls of a univer-     he must know the factors in his life
I                                              sity.                                     and how important each one is. He
     n a matter of weeks, another                  What is wisdom, and how do            must know also how to use the
     new school year opens. An-                we get it?                                things of this life to attain the goal.
     other year of covenantal in-                  Wisdom is an attribute of God.            The wise man will set his eyes
struction. Teachers have been plan-            God has perfect wisdom. By His            on what God's wisdom seeks,
ning for some time how best to                 wisdom He determined the whole            namely God's glory. He will see the
teach their courses, what improve-             course of history. As God, He not         factors in his life in the same light
ments to make, and what material               only knows all the factors, He is         that God sees them. Then by God's
to include. The new year will mean             sovereignly able to control them.         grace he will plan and walk in har-
countless hours of preparation and             And He has no sin to mar His judg-        mony with God's wisdom toward
study by teachers and students. It             ment. Truly He is the All-wise God.       the goal of God's glory.
will be another year packed with                   In His wisdom God has deter-              The Bible teaches that Christ is
lesson plans, assignments, papers,             mined everything both in time and         the wisdom of God. He is that be-
and tests. Subjects will include ev-           eternity, in heaven and on earth.         cause He is the fullness of the rev-
erything from art and music to his-            This plan of God includes all crea-       elation of God's glory. God has
tory and algebra.                              tures, all events, all actions and        made Christ the center of the whole
     Why all this activity? What, ex-          words. God has so wisely planned          counsel of God. God's plan to glo-
actly, teachers, do you hope to ac-            that  all  these work together for the    rify Himself as the covenant God
complish this year? What, specifi-             highest good possible, namely, for        revolves around Christ, the Media-
cally, students, do you hope to ob-            the utmost glory of His holy Name!        tor of the covenant. As the Media-
tain in another year of school? New            Psalm  104:24 sings, "0  LORD,  how       tor, He went to the cross, estab-
skills? More knowledge? More abil-             manifold are thy works: in wisdom         lished the covenant in His blood,
ity in areas where you are weak?               thou has made them all."                  redeemed His own, and reconciled
Perhaps better grades?                             Wisdom in man is a dim reflec-        them to the Father. As Mediator He
     Proverbs  4:7 tells us the one            tion of that infinite wisdom of God.      brings His people into fellowship
thing that teachers must strive                This is due to our being creatures,       with God. In the wisdom of God,
above all else to give their students,         and thus very limited. We are lim-        these covenant people will live in
and what all covenant youth must               ited in our knowledge of how to           covenant fellowship with God
be seeking. It is wisdom.  Wisdom is           use the material things in our lives      through Jesus Christ, praising God
the principal thing; therefore get wis-        to the best advantage. In addition,       for an eternity.
dom: and with  all thy getting get un-         we do not have control over the               Since Christ is the wisdom of
derstanding.  This is the command              elements around us. Not knowing           God, for us to be wise, we must
of God to all  - from the little girl          the future, we cannot know what           have Christ. We must have the
entering kindergarten, to the boy              choice is best. Besides, we are sin-      "mind of Christ" and live in all hu-
in his last year in grade school. It           ners, and sin distorts our judgment.      mility. Christ must live in us, and
comes with equal force to those in             Scripture teaches that sin is fool-       we must live out of His life. We
                                               ishness, the very opposite of wis-        must be renewed in His image. We
                                               dom.                                      must keep his commandments, and
                                                        In general, for a man to be      follow His example. We must flee
Prof. Dykstra is professor  of  Church His-    wise, he must have a certain              all folly, that is, sin.
tory and New Testament in the Protes-          amount of knowledge. He must                  However, wisdom is not all
tant Reformed Seminary.                        know what is the best goal, that          that we should desire. We must

450/Standard  Bearer/August,  1999


also have  understanding,  according     demic standards and high ACT test            God in and through Christ! He
to Proverbs  4:7. What is under-         scores. No student may be content            seeks to set before them the wis-
standing? Think about the literal        simply with grades that reflect his          dom of God, which is Christ. That
meaning of that word  - to stand         ability. Our goals must be higher.           is what Christian education is  -
under. A man with understanding          We are striving for the chief thing          Christ-centered education!
recognizes what is under, or be-         - wisdom, and for understanding                  In practical terms, it means that
hind, the things he sees. Under-         with it.                                     the instruction is given in light of
standing is the ability to evaluate          In our seeking of wisdom, we             the Scriptures. This is necessary for
and then explain what we see and         turn to the Bible and learn that  the        the basic facts as well as for the
hear and experience daily. It is the     fear  of  the  LORD  is the beginning  of    more complicated processes. In
ability to grasp the character of the    wisdom.  This means, first of all, that      arithmetic we learn that 2+2 always
person or event, and then to rec-        the fear of Jehovah is the start of          equals 4, not because it just hap-
ognize his or its significance.          wisdom. Without that fear, there             pens, but because the unchanging
    Wisdom is chief. We must get         will be no wisdom, no matter how             God has determined it, and in
wisdom. However, in all our get-         outstanding the educator or bril-            Christ upholds the creation in such
ting of wisdom, we must also get         liant the student.                           a way that this fact consistently
understanding.                               Secondly, the fear of Jehovah            holds. The same can be said of the
    Wisdom and understanding are         is the  principle  of wisdom. This           chemical reaction in the laboratory.
related in this way. Understanding,      stands to reason since the fear of           Such instruction imparts true and
along with knowledge, is the foun-       the Lord makes one to stand in awe           correct knowledge, the knowledge
dation of wisdom. Knowledge is           of God, to reverence Him, and to             of God in Christ. That is because it
first. To be wise, a man must have       humble himself before God. That              presents the facts of these subjects
at least some knowledge of God,          godly fear is also a love for God, a         as the works of God, and these
of himself, and of his world. Added      love so deep and controlling that            works reveal God.
to that must be understanding  -         one never wants to do anything                   True understanding will go be-
the ability to explain what he stud-     that  would~ make God angry with             yond the mechanical, as, for in-
ies in the light of God's Word. Built    or disappointed in him.                      stance, merely how and why a
on both knowledge and under-                 Therefore one who fears Jeho-            given chemical reaction occurs as
standing is wisdom. Equipped with        vah wants to do His will. He loves           it does. True understanding comes
a knowledge of the facts and an          the commands of God and strives              from a spiritual discernment
understanding of their significance,     to keep them. He is daily putting            gained from the Bible. It requires
a wise man can plan his way for          on the new man in Christ, and put-           that students grasp God's purpose
the goal of giving God the highest       ting off the old man of sin. He or-          of the whole creation, and then
praise.                                  ders well his way, in wisdom, ear-           how each creature (from the el-
    How does a teacher impart that       nestly desiring that his life give all       ephant to the carbon molecule) fits
precious gift, that chief quality of     the glory to God.                            into that  -creation. True under-
wisdom, to his students? How does            What must the teacher do to in-          standing comes through the knowl-
a student seek wisdom?                   still this? It should be obvious, first,     edge of the proper (God-glorifying)
    First, it is plain that the foun-    that a teacher  cannot  give wisdom.         use God has determined for each
dation must be there. The goal of        Wisdom is a gift from God alone.             creature, Such understanding even
Christian education is not to raise      Unless God regenerates the student           includes how this element contrib-
a child's self esteem. It is not to      and recreates him in the image of            utes to the earthly creation as a pic-
develop social skills, or to enter-      Christ, he will never have (true)            ture of the heavenly and spiritual.
tain. It is, first of all, to impart     wisdom. What humility this works                 With that understanding comes
knowledge. With all diligence,           in the believing teacher! All his ef-        wisdom, as God grants  it.-Christ
therefore, the teacher seeks to teach    forts are vanity, unless God works           must be displayed. Christ, the full-
- reading, math, history, Bible,         in the students.                             ness of the counsel of God. Christ,
spelling, grammar, and the rest.             Even though he realizes the ne-          who rules over the chemical reac-
With all diligence, the student ap-      cessity of God's work in the stu-            tion as much as He does the devel-
plies himself to know these things,      dent, the teacher does not ignore            opment of the kingdom of the
and that, not as ends in themselves,     this aspect of his teaching. His             antichrist  - all for the same goal
but as the foundation for under-         chief calling is to impart to his stu-       and purpose  - the final glorious
standing and wisdom.                     dents wisdom. He therefore under-            kingdom, where the covenant of
    Notice, then, that the mere im-      stands that the essence of his work          God and His people will be en-
parting of knowledge is not suffi-       is rearing covenant children in the          joyed in perfection, and God  glori-
cient. No parent or teacher may be       fear of the  LORD!  In all his instruc-      fied to the utmost.
satisfied merely with high aca-          tion, he is teaching them to know                Such wisdom enables the  be-

                                                                                              A u g u s t ,   1999/Standard   B e a r e r / 4 5 1


liever to walk in the ways of God.                         Woe to the student who does               The same is doubly true for the
It enables him to use the world                         not use the opportunity to gain the      teacher who makes orderly lesson
about him in the service of God. It                     knowledge, and who spurns wis-           plans, is lively in his teaching, and
equips him to be watching for the                       dom, and  -the understanding with        gives profitable assignments, but
return of the Lord, discerning the                      it. Woe to the student who earns         does not impart wisdom.
signs, knowing their significance,                      all "A`s" but gains no wisdom. It            In the new school year, then,
reacting to them in obedience to                        were better for that student that a      let parents, teachers, and students
God.                                                    millstone were hanged about his          alike resolve that we must get wis-
                                                        neck and he were cast into the sea       dom  - that is the principal thing.
      A new school year dawns.                          -before the school year starts.          And with all our getting, let us get
What are we seeking?                                                                             understanding.  Cl





                                                         Signs of the limes
                    8, The Worldwide Spread of the
                                                                Gospel

                                                        preached in all the world for a wit-     horse that "he that sat upon him
                                                        ness to all nations. This is ex-         had a bow; and a crown was given
      And this gospel  of  the kingdom                  tremely important because, before        unto him: and he went forth con-
shall be preached in all the world for a                this is accomplished, the end of the     quering and to conquer." This re-
witness unto all nations; and then                      ages cannot come.                        fers to the work of the exalted Lord
shall the end come.                                         In the old dispensation the gos-     sending forth His servants to pro-
                                     Matthew  24:14.    pel was limited almost exclusively       claim the gospel of the kingdom of
W                                                       to Israel as a nation. The covenants     heaven. By this powerful Word the
                  e have had occasion be-               and the promises were given to the       church is gathered and the world
                  fore to point out the im-             Jews, and the message of the             is made ripe for the final judgment.
                  portance of the preaching             prophets was directed mainly to              The gospel is the good news of
of the gospel in the new dispensa-                      the Jews as nation. But in the new       salvation in Christ Jesus and is re-
tion as one of the signs of Christ's                    dispensation the church has be-          ferred to here as the gospel of the
coming.              Jesus spoke of false               come universal, gathered from all        kingdom.
Christs and of false prophets,                          the nations of the earth, so that the        This kingdom is God's king-
warning us of their cunning decep-                      spread of the gospel must also be        dom. This may well be empha-
tion  and that their strong influence                   among all nations. Therefore one         sized. God is not in heaven for
is leading many astray. The impli-                      of the signs of the times is the         our sakes, to serve us, as many
cation always was that we should                        spread of the gospel to the ends of      seem to think, but we are on the
maintain the truth, and defend it                       the earth.                               earth for God's sake, to worship
as long as we live. Jesus encour-                           This is a very important sign.       and praise Him. We are taught to
ages us:             "Hold that fast which              You will notice that, while the          pray:    "Our Father which art in
thou hast, that no man take thy                         other signs speak of the develop-        heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.
crown" (Rev.  3:ll).                                    ment of sin and God's judgment           Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
       The emphasis is on the fact that                 upon the wicked, this sign speaks        done in earth, as it is in heaven."
the gospel of the kingdom must be                       in a more positive sense of the          And this prayer is concluded with
                                                        preaching of the gospel. This sign       the doxology: "For Thine is the
                                                        is significant also because of the       kingdom, and the power, and the
                                                        importance of the spread of the          glory, for ever."
Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in the                gospel throughout the world. Rev-            This kingdom is also Christ's
Protestanf Reformed Churches.                           elation 6 says concerning the white      kingdom under God. He is  ap-

452fitandard   B e a r e r / A u g u s t ,   7 9 9 9


pointed eternally as the Servant  par    dom is in the new creation. The            Minor, into Europe, across to the
excellence, the Head and Mediator        apostle John writes:        "And he        British Isles and the Americas.
of His people. It is the God and         shewed  me a pure river of water           From there the gospel is being
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ          of life, clear as crystal, proceeding      spread, especially in our day into
who has chosen us in Him from            out of the throne of God and of the        the Orient. The power of the gos-
before the foundation of the earth       Lamb. In the midst of the street of        pel is evident among every nation,
and redeemed us by His blood and         it, and on either side of the river,       race, tribe, and people, unto the far
merited for us a place in His king-      was there the tree of life, which          ends of the earth and the islands
dom. He has redeemed and mer-            bare twelve manner of fruits, and          of the sea. There is virtually no
ited for Himself and His people a        yielded her fruit every month: and         area anymore where the gospel has
place in God's kingdom. God              the leaves of the tree were for the        not been proclaimed.
raised our Lord from the dead and        healing of the nations. And there              This gospel must be pro-
exalted Him at His own right hand,       was no more curse: but the throne          claimed among all nations for a
entrusting Him with all power in         of God and of the Lamb shall be in         witness that all nations must hear.
heaven and on earth. He now car-         it; and his servants shall serve him"      This proclamation is not a general,
ries out God's counsel, working all      (Rev.  22:1-3).                            well-meant plea for all men to ac-
things for the salvation of His              Jesus speaks of this gospel,           cept the salvation offered to them.
church and the coming of God's           thereby referring, first of all, to the    It is a two-edged sword that makes
kingdom.                                 warning He has given concerning            separation between the believer
    That kingdom is spiritual and        false Christs and false prophets ris-      and the unbeliever, between the
heavenly. Its citizens are referred      ing in the church, lawlessness de-         righteous and the unrighteous.
to as the body of Christ, the temple     veloping in the world, and God's           Jesus says in Matthew  10:34, 35:
of the Holy Spirit. It is an entirely    judgments in nature.  -But in a            "Think not that I am come to send
mistaken notion that this kingdom        broader sense Christ is referring to       peace on earth: I came not to send
will still arise here on earth with a    the gospel that He proclaimed              peace, but a sword. For I am come
Christian government, a Christian        while He was on earth, and the             to set a man at variance against his
legal system, Christian business as-     truth as it is presented to us in the      father, and the daughter against
sociations, and in a Christian soci-     Holy Scriptures.                           her mother, and the  daughter-in-
ety. Scripture always emphasizes             This is the gospel of Jesus            law against her mother-in-law."
that God's kingdom is fully real-        Christ. It is proclaimed by Him            That is the evident result of the
ized only in the new creation, even      through His ambassadors and ap-            preaching of the Word. False
as Christ says: "My kingdom is           plied to the hearts of His people          Christs and false prophets arise
not of this earth."                      by His Spirit. It is also the gospel       and deceive many. For the wrath
    The kingdom of Christ is, first      concerning Him, for He is the              of God is revealed from heaven, so
of all, spiritual. Its citizens are      Word that became flesh, the rev-           that those who hold the truth un-
born again as new creatures in           elation of the Father, revealing           der in unrighteousness turn to the
Christ Jesus, possessing in their        unto us all the fullness of God.           worship of idols and to every form
hearts the life that is from above.      There is therefore no other gospel         of uncleanness and lawlessness,
They are pilgrims and strangers on       than the gospel that proclaims sal-        and not only do those things, but
the earth, spiritually minded, as        vation in Jesus Christ. For there is       take pleasure in those who do
they seek the things above where         no other name under heaven                 them. The result is that their cup
Christ is at the right hand of the       whereby we can be saved than the           of iniquity is filled and God is jus-
Father.                                  name of Jesus, just as there is no         tified in His judgment.
    They are also heavenly citizens.     salvation apart from the cross of              At the same time the gospel is
They have the principle of eternal       our Savior. Therefore the answer           the power of God unto salvation,
life in their hearts. They experi-       to the question of the Philippian          for it is a savor of life unto life as
ence the beginning of heavenly joy.      jailer:    "What must I do to be           well as a savor of death unto death.
They know the peace that passes          saved?" still applies today: "Be-          The gospel is the revelation of the
all understanding. Therefore, in         lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and        God of our salvation, revealing to
the midst of an evil world and still     thou shalt be saved, and thy               us the riches of His grace and all
wrestling with sin that wars in          house."                                    His blessed promises. It is the
their members, they enjoy the                This gospel must be and is be-         power that draws His elect out of
blessing of contentment, confident       ing preached unto the ends of the          darkness into light, out of death
that they can do all things through      earth. The spread of the gospel in         into life, and changes children of
Christ who strengthens them. They        the new dispensation began in              Satan into sons and daughters of
cherish a hope that never dies.          Jerusalem, spread to Antioch of            the living God. It creates commun-
    The realization of God's king-       Syria, and from Antioch to Asia            ion with God, drawing us into His

                                                                                            August,  1999/Standard  Bearer/453


intimate covenant life and blessed-           of eternal life and a hope of the                      pared for glory, will the end come.
ness.      It gives us a living faith         glory that awaits us upon the re-                       The stone of Daniel's vision
whereby we know and experience                turn of our Lord.                                      that is cut out of the mountain will
the mysteries of the kingdom of                       When the gospel has reached                    crush all the nations of the earth,
heaven, even the secrets of the               all nations, even to the ends of the                   and the kingdoms of the earth will
Lord, for we see that which eye               earth, and has performed its work,                     become the kingdom of our God
cannot see, and hear that which ear           the end will come. Not before. The                     and of His Christ forever and ever.
cannot hear, the things that are re-          Lord is longsuffering, not willing                     That arouses in us the prayer,
vealed to those who fear God. We              that any of His elect should per-                      Come, Lord Jesus, yea, come
experience peace with God, the joy            ish, but that all are saved. Only                      quickly.  Q
                                              then, when the last elect is  ure-



                                              Wednesday evenings, beginning                          Park along the shore of Lake Michi-
Evangelism Activities                                                                                gan, a distance of about 35 miles.
T                                             July 21. So perhaps you might be
        he Evangelism Committee of            able to attend a couple of these                       Each young person was responsible
        the First PRC in Edmonton, AB,        classes and have some of your                          to get at least $25 in pledges from
Canada sponsored a spring lecture             questions about eschatological is-                     family, friends, and church mem-
on May 7 in their church audito-              sues answered.                                         bers. Members of the congregation
rium. Their pastor, Rev. M. De                                                                       were also welcome to join in the
Vries, spoke on the interesting and           Congregational Activities                              outing.
relevant topic,  "Y2K: Turmoil or                                                                        However, not all fund-raisers
Tranquillity?  - A Biblical Perspec-          This year's synod gave their ap-
                                                      proval of a request coming                     point to the convention. Recently
tive."                                        from our Theological School Com-                       the young people of the Bethel PRC
        The Evangelism Committee of           m i t t e e   t o   a r r a n g e   w i t h   t h e    in Roselle, IL sponsored a program
the South Holland, IL PRC hosted              consistory and pastor of the Byron                     of instrumental numbers, vocal
a conference entitled "Reacting to            Center, MI PRC to give Mr. Mark                        numbers, and congregational sing-
the End Times," on June 25 and 26             Shand exposure to the work of the                      ing. A collection was taken for the
at their church. Prof. D. Engelsma            ministry by permitting him to ac-                      church picnic which the young
spoke Friday night on "Reformed               company Rev. Kuiper on visits to                       people are planning this year.,
Sanity Regarding the Millennium."             the sick and shut-ins, lead one Bible                      Bethel's young people also met
This was followed the next morn-              Society, and attend a number of                        Monday, June 28, with the young
ing by Prof. H. Hanko speaking on             consistory, council, and diaconate                     people of the Kalamazoo, MI PRC.
"Crucial Signs of the Times."                 meetings. Mr. Shand is a student                       Rev. C. Haak, Bethel's pastor, led
        Now if these two events have          in our seminary from the Evangeli-                     a discussion on Biblical Perspec-
you saying to yourself, "I wish I             cal Presbyterian Church of Austra-                     tives on the Littleton, CO  Tragedy.~
could have been there," and if you            lia.      He and his family attend                     The following day they joined to-
happen to live in west Michigan,              Byron Center PRC.                                      gether for an outing to Six Flags.
let me add this third bit of news.
The Evangelism Committee of the               Young People's Activities                              School Activities
Southwest PRC in Grandville, MI
is again sponsoring a Summer                  In the month of August all roads
                                                 point towards the annual Young                      In mid-June a few members of
                                                                                                       the  BethelPRC  met to form an
Seminar. This year's seminar is               People's Convention. This year is                      association for PR education. They
looking at the topic, "The Biblical           not different, with various societ-                    chose the name Heidelberg Chris-
Way Through the  -Millennial                  ies sponsoring one last fund-raiser                    tian School Association. Presently
Maze."         Rev. R. Cammenga,              to cover-expected expenses.                            their main function will be to raise
Southwest's pastor, and Prof. R.                      Consequently, we are always                    funds for future needs.
Dykstra are scheduled to lead these           on the lookout for unique  fund-
sessions dealing with the four main           raisers sponsored by our young                         Missionary Activities
millennial views. The sessions will           people. One caught our eye re-
be held on four consecutive                   cently when the young people of                        Rev. and Mrs. R. Moore, our
                                                                                                         churches' missionary to Ghana,
                                              the First PRC in Holland, MI spon-                     arrived safely in Accra in mid-June.
                                              sored a Bike-a-thon on a Saturday                      Currently they are looking for suit-
Mr.  Wigger is an elder in  (he Profesfanf    in late June. They planned to travel                   able housing so they can apply for
Reformed Church  of  Hudsonville,  Michi-
gan.                                          to and from Grand Haven State                          permanent residency. So far he has

454/Standard  Bearer/August, 7999


gained official status from the                              questions. An added bonus was                      has accepted the call he received
Registrar's Office so that he is able                        that Rev. and A@. Jason Kortering,                 from our newly organized Corner-
to preach and teach in Ghana.                                minister-on-loan in Singapore,                     stone PRC in Schererville, IN.
    June 30 the council of the                               were in attendance.                                    We also rejoice with Mr. Garry
Hudsonville, MI PRC sponsored a                                                                                 Eriks, who graduated from our
Missionary Emphasis Night to wel-                            Minister Activities                                seminafy this past June, and give
come their missionary, Rev. R.                                   ev.
                                                             R A. denHartog declined the thanks to God for providing our
Hanko, his wife Nancy, and their                                 call he had been considering                   churches with another minister.
family back from Northern Ireland                            from the Hull,  IA PRC.                            Candidate Eriks became eligible for
for an extended vacation. About                                  After Rev. G.  VatiBaren's re-                 a call after July 10.
300 people from Hudsonville and                              quest for emeritation was granted
surrounding PR congregations en-                             by our synod, our church in                                     good FOI Thought
joyed a picnic supper, followed by                           Loveland, CO formed a trio of the                      "Repentance does not mean re-
a brief program in which Rev.                                Revs. W. Bruinsma, B. Gritters, and                morse, repentance means giving up
Hanko updated us on his work and                             S. Key. On June 28 they extended                   sin."
answered many thought provoking                              a call to Rev. Bruinsma.                                              - W.E. Biederwolf Cl
                                                                 Candidate Nathan Brummel



                                                                                NOTICE
                                                                 Classis West of the Protestant Re-                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                             formed Churches will be hosted by the                   The council and congregation of
         `WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                South Holland Protestant Reformed                  Southeast PRC wish to express their
    On  August  IO, 1999, our parents,                       Church in South Holland, Illinois on               Christian sympathy to Mrs. Irene
grandparents, and great grandparents,                        Wednesday, September  1, 1999 at  8:30             VanderWal  in the passing away of her twin
         KENN and GLORIA DOEZEMA,                            A.M., the Lord willing. All material for the       brother,
will celebrate their 50fh wedding anniver-                   classical agenda is to be in the hands of                           MR. ABE VOGEL.
sary.                                                        the Stated Clerk by August 2, thirty days                   Surely goodness and mercy shall fol-
    We are grateful to God and to them                       before  classis convenes. An  Office-              low me all the days of my life: and I will
for the loving, Christian home and example                   bearers Conference is also planned for             dwell in the house of the LORD for ever
they have given us. We thank God for                         Tuesday, August 31, the theme of which             (Psalm 23:6).
His faithfulness throughout iheir married                    is Fu/ly Equ~ippeo'  For The Work A Con-                              Rev. Dale Kuiper, President
life and ask His continued blessing on their                 ference for E/ders  and Deacons. All del-                                           Ed Hekstra, Clerk
marriage in the years to come.                               egates or visitors in need of lodging or
         But thou art the same, and thy years                transportation from the airport should no-
shall have no end. The children of thy                       tify the clerk of South Holland  s consistory,              "-WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
servants shall continue, and their seed                                      Mr. Bert Wories                         With gratitude to God we offer our
shall be established before thee (Psalm                                     3622 193rd Place                    congratulations to our parents and grand-
102:27, 28).                                                                Lansing, IL 60438                   parents,
% Kaye Wigger (Bern in glory)                                           Phone: (708) 474-4926.                           DONALD and  HILDA DEVRIES,
          Petar and Jennifer  Matic                                                       Rev. Steven Key,      on their 40th wedding anniversary, August
             Theodore, Ian                                                                      Stated Clerk    14, 1999. What a blessing godly parents
          Stephen and Rebecca Wigger                                                                            are to us! We pray that God will continue
          Rocky, Philip                                                                                         to bless them and keep them in His care.
& Wes and Glenda Koops                                             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                Lord, thou hast been our dwelling
          Peter and Chera Rizk                                    The council and congregation of               place in all generations . And let the
          Annise, Luke, Ginelle                              Southeast PRC wish to express their sym-           beauty of the Lord our God be upon us:
$& Kenmart  and Kathy Doezema                                pathy to Clarice Newhof in the passing of          and establish thou the work of our hands
          Mark and Patty Pals                                her cousin,                                        upon us; yea, the work of our hands es-
             Megan, Caleb                                               MARCIA DE  MEESTER.                     tablish thou it (Psalm 90).
           Kevin                                                   For if we have been planted together         % Neil and Connie Meyer
Q Karl and Judy Doezema                                      in the likeness of his death, we shall be                      Annette, Christina, Bennett,
Z% Jeff and Kris Mott                                        also in the likeness of his resurrection                       Jennelle, Tabitha
           Nicole, Kyler                                     (Romans 65).                                       $2 Kathryn  DeVries
                                   Grand Rapids, Michigan                     Rev. Dale Kuiper, President                                            Randolph, Wisconsin
                                                                                          Ed Hekstra, Clerk
                                                                                                                               August   1999fitandard Bearer/455

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


       `RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                    "WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                      %`EDDING  ANNIVERSARY
       The Adult Bible Society of Doon  PRC                      With gratitude to our covenant God,                       On August 13, 1999, D.V.,
express their sincere sympathy to fellow                we are privileged to celebrate on August                  HARRY and EVELYN LANGERAK
members Floyd and Mary VanDenTop and                    2, 1999, the Lord willing, the 50th wedding               will celebrate their  35rh wedding anniver-
their family in the sudden death of Mary s              anniversary of our parents and grandpar-                  sary.
mother,                                                 ents,                                                          With them we rejoice and thank our
           MRS. GERT BURGERS.                           MR. and MRS. TUNIS (TONY) JANSMA.                         heavenly Father for His everlasting love
        May the Lord continue to be their                        We thank our heavenly Father for                 and mercy in the faithfulness, covenantal
strength and comfort. Oh how great is                   them and for His love and instruction given               love, and instruction of our parents.
thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for               us through them. It is our prayer that He                          Great is the LORD, and greatly to be
them that fear thee; which thou hast                    will grant them many more years together,                 praised; and his greatness is unsearch-
wrought for them that trust in thee before              continuing to uphold and keep them in His                 able. One generation shall praise thy
the sons of men! (Psalm 31:19).                         care.                                                     works to another and shall declare thy
                    Rev. Richard Smit, Pres.                     I will sing of the mercies of the Lord           mighty acts (Psalm  1453, 4).
                     Karen VanDenTop, Sec.              forever: with my mouth will I make known                  5% Bill and Karen Langerak
                                                        thy faithfulness to all generations (Psalm                           Jared,  Justin, Katrina, Jason
       " RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                         89:l).                                                    &? Tim and Brenda Bomers
       The Martha Society of Doon  PRC ex-              & David and Diane Bonestroo                                          Luke, Alex, Cody, Jesse, Samuel
press their sincere sympathy to the family              @ Marlys Koele                                            % Jonathan and Lisa Langerak
of                                                      % David and Rachel Griess                                            Jonathan, Trevor,  Emmet
           `GERTRUDE BURGERS,                           % Terry and Dee Jansma                                    & David and Carla Langerak
a fellow member of the Society whom the                            13 grandchildren                                          Emily, Anna
Lord called into His presence.                                     2 great-grandchildren                          @ Joel and Jori Langerak
        Her children arise up and call her                                                          Hull, Iowa               Joel, Jake
blessed; her husband also, and he                                                                                 % Jim and Sara Geerlings
praiseth her (Proverbs 31:28).                                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                      Jimmy
                          Rev. R. Smit, Pres.                    The Protestant Reformed Theological              & Nathan
                    Vivian Hunter, Vice-Pres.           School Committee expresses its deepest                    % Jeremy
                                                        Christian sympathy to our fellow commit-                  I% Everett
        `WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                            tee member, Mr. Jon Huisken, in the death                                                    Grand Rapids, Michigan
       On July 15, 1999, our parents and                of his father,
grandparents,                                                        MR. HENRY HUISKEN.
      MR. and MRS. GUSTAVE STREYLE,                     May the brother and his family receive
of Hull, IA celebrated their  40th wedding              comfort from the promise of the Word of
anniversary. We give thanks to our heav-                God that . . . all things work together for
enly Father for blessing them with many                 good to them that love God, to them who                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
years of marriage. We thank God for the                 are the called according to his purpose                        The council and congregation of the
covenant home provided by them. May                     (Romans 8:28).                                            Southwest PRC of Grandville, Ml express
God continue to be their guide and stay in                                     Rev. Dale Kuiper, Pres.            their heartfelt Christian sympathy to elder
the years ahead.                                                       Rev. Barry Gritters, Vice-Set y.           Darrel Huisken and family in the death of
        But the mercy of the Lord is from                                                                         his father,
everlasting to everlasting upon them that                                   NOTICE!!                                           MR. HENRY HUISKEN.
fear him, and his righteousness unto                             Classis East will meet in regular ses-                May the grieving family be comforted
children s children (Psalm 103:17).                     sion on Wednesday, September 8, 1999                      in the assurance of God s Word: Blessed
@ John and  LeAnn  Streyle                              at the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed                    are the dead which die in the Lord from
         Katharina, Adam, Grant, Patrick,               Church, Hudsonville, MI. Material for this                henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they
         Matthew                                        session must be in the hands of the stated                may rest from their labors; and their works
5% Elaine and Mike Rau                                  clerk no later than August 8, 1999.                       do follow them (Revelation 14:13).
         Nathan, Benjamin, Erin, Joel                                                       Jon J. Huisken                            Rev. Ron Cammenga, Pres.
                                                                                                                                           Clare Kuiper, Asst. Clerk
                                         Hull,  Iowa                                          Stated Clerk
456/Standard  Bearer/August, 7999


