Creation’s Song of Joy...76/Standard Bearer/November 15, 2004 The Standard Bearer: Past (concl.)...

74/Standard Bearer/November 15, 2004

Meditation Rev. Martin VanderWal

Rev. VanderWal is pastor of Hope Protes-tant Reformed Church in Redlands, Cali-fornia.

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Creation’s Song of Joy11 Thou crownest the year with

thy goodness; and thy paths drop fat-ness.

12 They drop upon the pasturesof the wilderness: and the little hillsrejoice on every side.

13 The pastures are clothed withflocks; the valleys also are covered overwith corn; they shout for joy, they alsosing.

Psalm 65:11-13

ave you heard the pas-tures and valleys shout-ing for joy? Have you

heard them also singing?What do they shout, what do

they sing, but of the goodness ofGod!

The ever-blessed God has vis-ited the pastures of the wilderness.The great God has come near tothe little hills. He has walked overthe pastures, and He has gonedown into the valleys. Through-out His creation He has gone forth.Wherever His paths have led, Hehas left behind something. Fatness,

great abundance. That rich abun-dance of good things is the veryevidence of His presence. Theyear is crowned with His goodness.Of that goodness the pastures andvalleys shout and sing!

Trace those paths! See theplaces where Jehovah has walked!

Understand the manner of theirshouting and singing. This Scrip-ture tells us that they shout andsing by means of their abundance.The hills are covered with flocks.Those flocks find the grass grow-ing upon the hillsides rich and ver-dant. Grazing on that grass theygrow fat and numerous. They lackfor nothing. Herds and flockscover the hills.

The little hills feel that cloth-ing upon them. Clothed withwhite, brown, and black, they havejoy and gladness. “The little hillsrejoice on every side.” Joy burstsforth out of their depths in shout-ing and singing. They are clad inglorious garments, garments whichspeak of God’s goodness to them.

The same is to be said of thecrop sown into the ground. Theground was plowed and tilled. Theseed was sown. Upon that seedthe rain fell and the sun shone, in

the right amounts and at the righttime. The hills are covered withthe green of the stalk. Over thecourse of the summer they grew talland strong. They have broughtforth an abundance of grain. Nowturned brown and dry by the au-tumn season, they are ripe for har-vest.

The valleys are thus coveredwith corn. They, like the little hills,have a rich and luxurious carpetlaid upon their lap. They are abun-dantly covered. This covering givesthem also their own joy. Out ofthat joy they shout, and they alsosing. They sing of God’s goodnessto them, for they know that Godhas beautifully adorned them.

Do you hear them shouting andsinging, these little hills, these pas-tures and these valleys?

The fatness is ready to be re-ceived by men. They harvest theabundance. Men gather it into theirbarns. By the further labor of men,it is prepared for the home. Theabundance is brought into the oven,and cooked on the stove. Now thehungry have food upon their tables.They eat the fatness of the harvest,and they are filled.

But do they hear the shouting

H

November 15, 2004/Standard Bearer/75

growing in the field. See the farm-ers laboring to gather in the plen-tiful harvest. Count the cattle orsheep grazing in the rich pastures.Hearken to the song! Listen to theshouts of joy!

On Thanksgiving Day, enjoythat bounty of the earth. Eat anddrink to the full, rejoicing in theabundance that God has given toyou. But with every bite of the sa-vory meat of the turkey, and withevery juicy spoonful of cranberries,do not taste that abundance onlywith your mouth. Hear with yourears the ringing chorus. Hear thelittle hills. Attend closely to thepastures and the valleys. Enjoy themusic. And, as you hear, bless thename of the Lord.

Indeed, the paths of the Lorddrop fatness. The hills are coveredover. They shout for joy, they alsosing.

Our calling is to join this cho-rus. If the earth is given to suchgladness, and if the earth itselfshouts and sings, how much moreis that our glad calling. For thisabundance is not for the hills andvalleys. It is for us. It is for us,whom the Lord has given mindsto think upon His goodness to us.It is for us, whom the Lord hasgiven hearts to be made glad andjoyful with this abundance. It isfor us, whom the Lord has givenvoices and tongues to shout andsing His praises. We are coveredand we are filled, so that we mightbless the name of the Lord, whosepaths have dropped such fatnessto us.

May that joy ever live in ourhearts! May it ever find expres-sion upon our lips!

We have even more cause forjoy. Our ears have been opened tohear. By nature they were stoppedup against this shouting and sing-ing of the creation by nature. ButGod has given us ears to hear HisWord, even the truth of thesewords of Holy Scripture. Onlythen do we hear the shouting andsinging of His creation in praise toHis name. God has opened our

blind eyes to see the covering ofthe pastures and valleys, that suchcovering is His fatness, the foot-prints of His paths. He has soft-ened our hearts, to kindle thereina desire and love of that knowl-edge. By His grace we rejoice inHim. By even further grace, thatjoy comes to expression upon ourtongues.

We shout for joy! We also sing!Thanks be to our God!

and singing? Do they all hear theglad anthem of the creation?

Many do not. They are alto-gether ignorant and foolish. Intheir foolish ignorance they singthe songs of man: man’s glory andman’s possibility. They sing thesong of evolution, that all thingshappen by chance. They composetheir own songs. They shout theirown praises. By their own compo-sitions they try to drown out thevoices of these little hills, the pas-tures, and the valleys. You see, thisvery shouting and singing of thecreation condemns them. Thecreation’s very joy is abhorrent tothem.

But the music of these littlehills, pastures, and valleys is to theears of the children of God mostblessed. They hear the shoutingand singing of the creation, andthey know of whom it shouts andsings: Jehovah and His glory. Thepaths of the Lord drop their fat-ness—that is the song! The chil-dren of God hear it. That songcauses their hearts to rejoice. Theyshout for joy. They also sing!

Perhaps the farmer, the God-fearing farmer, hears that shoutingand singing better than any. Heknows his labor. He knows theseed that he sows into the earth.That labor and seed he has re-ceived from the hand of His God.He knows the source of the rainand sunshine that has fallen uponthe earth during the season ofgrowth. As he has tilled the landand sown the seed, he has liftedhis labor before the Lord, seekingHis blessing upon it. Thus, whenhe brings in the fruits, he knows ithas come from the hand of God.When he looks upon his fields, hehears the proper shouting. Whenhe considers his herds and flockshe hears the proper song: The Lordhas been here! His paths havedropped fatness!

You and I must also hear thatglad chorus! Before ThanksgivingDay, take a drive into the country.Go to the little hills, the pastures,and the valleys. Look at the crops

PEACE

The first ray of sunlightIs just peeking through —No breeze is yet stirring,The day is so new;The birds are beginningTheir daily refrain;The dew cloaks the grasses;I stroll down the lane.

I muse on the wonderOf all God has made;The sounds, scents, and

movementThis moment displayed.Each creature, each actionIs part of the whole;A balanced creation —It’s in God’s control.

The cares of my lifeSeem to vanish away.If God clothes the grassMay I worry today?God promised that all thingsShall work for my good.I have comfort and peace;He has told me I would.

Of myself I’m defiled;I cover my face;Yet I’m His own dear childBy the work of His grace.So I pause now to thankMy Creator and Friend,My Father, my Savior,The Beginning and End.

Thelma WestraFaith PRC


The Standard Bearer: Past (concl.)me to the conviction that the an-swer is: None of the above.

To be sure, this is not to claimsinlessness for the critics of the CRCwho wrote in the SB. HermanHoeksema did not either. Twenty-five years after he had been expelledfrom the CRC, he wrote of how dif-ficult it is “when one is maltreatedand finally cast out by the Church,to keep the spirit of Him Who wasmeek and lowly of heart” (Vol. 25,p. 53). More than once H.H. pub-licly acknowledged that the SB washardly a perfect magazine.

One indication of H.H.’s atti-tude towards the CRC was that hedid not use the SB to exacerbatethe division between the two de-nominations. On the contrary, inthe late 1930s he wrote a lengthypaper on the topic of the possiblereunion of the CRC and the PRCand printed it in the SB in both En-glish and Dutch.

There is evidence, especially inarticles of H.H., that the criticismof the CRC arose out of a genuinelove for God, His church, and Histruth. This was love for the motherchurch, first of all. Surely it is evi-dent in H.H.’s impassioned “OpenLetter to the Synod of the ChristianReformed Church” in June of 1932.

H.H. begins with an assuranceto the CRC Synod of his “sincereinterest in the well-being of theChristian Reformed Church, that is,in their true and spiritual well-be-ing, their growth in the grace andknowledge of our Lord JesusChrist.” The letter, he writes, is inobedience to the Lord’s admonitionfound in Hosea 4:2 that “His faith-ful children…plead with theirmother, the Church in the world.Emphatically this…admonition isenjoined upon the hearts and

minds of the faithful children, asis evident from the urgent repeti-tion: ‘Plead with your mother,plead!’”

H.H. maintains that the plead-ing voice of the PRC has gone forthin lectures, sermons, pamphlets,and books, and, “last but not least,in our…Standard Bearer.” Onceagain, he acknowledges that thisactivity of pleading has not beenwithout fault.

Think not, reverend and worthybrethren, that our efforts and la-bors were inspired by personalmalice and envy. Neither mustyou imagine that we were moti-vated by the desire to build our-selves into a Church organizationof tolerably good size and largenumbers. Surely, I gladly confessthat all our work is imperfect anddefiled with sin, that carnal mo-tives and desires often corrupt ourbest works. I feel that often, inthe heat of strife and controversywords are spoken that had betterbeen left unspoken, paragraphsare written that had better re-mained in the pen. No doubt, thesame imperfection will be foundto characterize our labors, the pleawe had with mother. Yet, by thesefaults and imperfections you maynot judge our work.

Then he explains his motives forrepeatedly addressing the CRC.

On the contrary, the deepestmotive of our strife and labors hasalways been a sincere desire tolead mother in the way of God’sprecepts. Love to her promptedus to plead with her, not to rest,ti l l she might put away herwhoredoms out of her sight andher adulteries from between herbreasts. This I may confess be-fore God and you all.

Editorial Prof. Russell Dykstra

he origins of the StandardBearer shaped the charac-ter of the magazine. It was

born out of the controversy in theChristian Reformed Church overcommon grace. The original writ-ers intended their new publicationto be doctrinal and polemical, set-ting forth the truth and exposingthe lie. To this purpose the SB hasremained true for eighty years.

Through the years, a host of ar-ticles critical of the CRC have beenpublished in the SB. Sometimes thewriters picked apart a Banner ar-ticle, or perhaps a writing in theDutch CRC publication De Wachter.The SB reported on decisions of theCRC synods, demonstrating depar-ture from the Reformed faith orwalk.

Why so much attention to andcriticism of the CRC? Was it thegoal of the SB simply to prove thatthe PRC was right, and the CRCwrong?

Was it to justify the existenceof the PRC that all this ink wasspilled criticizing the motherchurch?

Was the purpose intentionallyto stir up unrest in the CRC in or-der to enlarge the membership rollsof the PRC at the expense of theCRC?

Or was it, perhaps, malice thatmotivated H.H and G.M.O. and theothers, a matter of spite, and de-sire for revenge?

All these evil motives havebeen ascribed to the SB writersover the years.

Reading the old issues has led

Previous article in this series can be foundin the November 1, 2004 issue, p. 52.

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Love for the church of God, notonly manifest in the CRC, but inthe PRC, compelled the mainstaysof the SB to point out the errors ofthe CRC. That is to say, it was nec-essary that the SB make crystalclear the differences between thesetwo denominations.

H.H. makes this point in hiseditorial of December 1, 1932, inwhich he responds to a Banner ar-ticle by a Rev. J. Vander Mey.Vander Mey argued that the CRCmust develop the doctrine of com-mon grace. H.H. concurs, in lightof the decision of 1924, which bothadopted common grace and in-structed the churches to make a se-rious study of the doctrine. Withregard to such a development, hewrites:

And such a course would, per-haps, have a good effect, yieldpositive fruit for the Churches.

In the first place, a proper em-phasis on the theory of commongrace would, I hope, open the eyesof many for its danger and dia-bolical deception. Now they areasleep to the danger that is, nev-ertheless, very real. And they arecarefully kept in their state ofspiritual slumber.

In the second place, the lineswould be more clearly drawn thanthey are now between the Chris-tian Reformed and the ProtestantReformed Churches.

Not that I like the separation assuch.

But I do like healthful condi-tions.

And I do not like the presentsituation at all. The Christian Re-formed brethren almost create theappearance of unity in doctrinewith the Protestant ReformedChurches. Occasionally one mayeven hear that there is really nodifference between the twoChurches, the remark being madeby leaders of the Christian Re-formed Churches.

And such a situation is nothealthful because it is not true….

Let the Christian Reformedbrethren, with all that in them is,develop the theory of commongrace.

Let the Protestant ReformedChurches develop themselves onthe basis of the truth that God’sgrace is always particular.

For the good of the church, andfor the right knowledge of truth,H.H. would continue his polemi-cal editorials.

Under the next editor, HomerC. Hoeksema, the same purposeprevailed. However, by that time(the 1960s), the SB was less focusedon the CRC. The SB would de-scribe the bitter fruits of commongrace in the CRC, and her steadydeparture from sovereign grace infavor of common grace — the ap-proval of movies and the dance,denial of limited atonement, toler-ance of evolution, unbiblical di-vorce and remarriage, to give a fewillustrations.

The mother would not hear thepleading.

Being Spent for ChristThe history of the SB is a his-

tory of writers willing to spendthemselves for the cause of Godand His truth. The amount of workperformed by the first writers isstaggering! The stalwarts in theinitial monthly issues of thirty-twopages were Danhof, Hoeksema,and Ophoff, with limited contribu-tions from a few others. Shortlythereafter the Danhofs stoppedwriting, and the load — a crushingload! — fell chiefly on H.H. andG.M.O. By God’s grace, they per-severed.

Although the ranks of ministersswelled considerably in the next fif-teen years, H.H. and G.M.O. car-ried the SB through the 1930s andinto the 1940s. A random samplingof issues in the 1930s reveals thatthese two men regularly wrote six-teen to twenty pages of each issue,with H.H. taking the larger load.As late as April of 1939 they com-bined for twenty-two of thetwenty-four pages!

Let us put this into perspective.Ask almost any high schooler abouta five-page paper for history, and the

response will probably be, “That’s alot of work!” Many a college stu-dent feels the burden of a ten-pageresearch paper. Seminary studentsknow the hard work required to fin-ish a paper of thirty pages.

On average in the 1930s,Ophoff wrote a seminary lengthpaper (plus) every month. H.H.wrote that every two weeks. Thatis astounding! From 1924 to 1958(for G.M.O.) and 1964 (for H.H.)these faithful stewards of the mys-teries of God filled the SB, hardlyeven taking an issue off. Filled it,they did, with solid, Reformedstuff, not fluff.

They accomplished this whileteaching nearly all the courses inthe seminary, serving as pastorsand preachers, giving public lec-tures and speaking on the radio,serving in the meetings ofconsistory, classis, and synod, andon special committees besides. Inthe case of H.H., he was also pre-paring books for publication.

It must be understood that thecrushing burden was not merelythe amount of writing. By far thegreater weight was the responsibil-ity to stand for the truth issue af-ter issue, page after page. Howeasy it would have been to allowthe younger men to do the writingin the 1940s, and not lead thecharge against the rising errors.Who could have blamed these min-isters, so burdened with other re-sponsibilities, if they had caved into pressure and allowed others totransform the SB into a glossychurch/news rag? Or, consider thetemptation to compromise, whenbut a (seemingly) slight compro-mise on the doctrine of the cov-enant could have obtained acclaimfrom a leading Dutch theologian(Dr. K. Schilder) and probablyforged a union of the tiny PRC andthe much larger GKN Liberated.How devilishly tempting!

Concern for the defense and de-velopment of Reformed doctrine isevident from G.M.O.’s rebuke of aminister (in 1949) who found roomin Reformed theology for condi-


Search the Scriptures Rev. Ronald Hanko

Rev. Hanko is pastor in the ProtestantReformed Church of Lynden, Washington.

Previous article in this series can befound in the May 1, 2004 issue, p. 354.

tions. Wrote Ophoff, “Did it notonce occur to you that...you mightwith one thoughtless stroke of yourpen be breaking down and destroy-ing what others by hard work inthe way of unwearied study of theScriptures have built up?”

And when the very men whomthey had taught rose up and re-jected the truths of sovereign, par-ticular grace and election as appliedto the covenant, one wonderswhether these giants in the faithever had the weary thought to leavethe field, to give up the battle.

That did not happen. When inthe early 1950s the truth wasthreatened by the pernicious errorof the conditional covenant, the SBled the fight against it, first in the

bold polemics of G.M.O., and thenin the clear and antithetical devel-opment of the doctrine by H.H.Others joined them in the defenseof the truth, to be sure; but Godused these two men in particular.

There is no earthly reward thatcould have motivated these men toexpend such energy and labors.Nor is there a human power thatcould bear such burdens alone. Bythe grace of God they did it for thecause of Christ, for the sake of Hischurch, and out of zeal for Histruth. No plausible explanation ispossible, but that they were will-ing to be spent for the sake ofChrist. And spent, they were.They toiled until they could laborno longer, until strokes removed

the pens from their worn and trem-bling hands. About a year aftertheir respective strokes, they died.

That is part of the legacy of theStandard Bearer — hard work,marked by diligence to get themagazine printed month aftermonth, and by faithfulness to theReformed faith. The same charac-terized the labors of the subsequenteditors, H.C. Hoeksema and D.J.Engelsma.

A rather frequent ending ofH.H.’s articles, a paraphrase ofJesus’ words in John 9:4, was this:“Let us labor while it is day, erethe night cometh in which no mancan work.”

They did labor.So, now, must we.

Haggai: Rebuilding the Church (10)

The Second Prophecy (cont.)6. For thus saith the Lord of

hosts; yet once, it is a little while, andI will shake the heavens, and the earth,and the sea, and the dry land;

7. And I will shake all nations,and the desire of all nations shall come:and I will fill this house with glory,saith the Lord of hosts.

he shaking to which thispassage refers takes placein “once, a little while,”

which Hebrews 12:26, 27 interprets

to mean “yet once more.” The firstshaking was at Mount Sinai, whenGod’s voice shook the earth only.This shaking would take place oncemore and in a little while in theoverthrow and destruction of thePersian empire by Alexander theGreat, but the yet once more refersespecially to the shaking that takesplace in the New Testament in con-nection with the coming of Christ,and throughout the New Testa-ment when there will be a shakingof all things in earth and heaven,temporal and spiritual.

Hebrews 12:27, however,clearly indicates that this shakingtakes place at the end of the world,for when it happens, Hebrews says,the things that are made shall beremoved and only those things that

cannot be shaken shall remain.However, it is clear from Haggaithat this shaking also takes placein connection with the incarnationof Christ, for the coming of the De-sire of all nations is first fulfilledthen. It was that shaking especiallythat the Jews looked for in Haggai’sdays.

How can that be? We shouldunderstand that the coming ofChrist in Scripture is alwaysviewed as one event, which in-cludes His incarnation, His comingthrough the Spirit (John. 14:16-18),and His coming at the end of theworld. They are one in principlebecause through the coming ofChrist God accomplishes His onepurpose in the salvation of Hischurch and the judgment of the

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world. It was from this perspec-tive that the Old Testament proph-ets did not even see that there aredifferent events that are part of thecoming of Christ. Joel, when hespoke of blood and fire and smokeand darkness (Joel 2:30, 31), did notrealize that he was prophesyingboth of the coming of the Spirit(Acts 2:16-21) and of the end of theworld (Rev. 6:12-14).

One must, in reading theprophets, think of the whole NewTestament as one day on God’stime clock, the one day in whichHe finishes his work and cuts itshort in righteousness (Rom. 9:28).It may be difficult for us to graspthat (after more than 2000 years ofNew Testament history havepassed), but we must rememberthat the passage of time meansnothing to God. One day with Himis as a thousand years, and a thou-sand years as a day (II Pet. 3:8).

There is, then, a progressivefulfillment of this prophecy, asthere is of most prophecy. That isnot often seen, but should be evi-dent, since to say that prophecy hasonly a single fulfillment at onepoint in history is really to say thatthe prophecy is of no significancefor the people of God living atother times. A progressive fulfill-ment of prophecy means thatprophecy is always relevant and al-ways applies to thetimes in which welive. We live in themiddle of the fulfill-ment of the proph-ecy of Haggai con-cerning this shak-ing.

The “yet oncemore,” therefore, is the whole NewTestament and is fulfilled againand again in the events of the NewTestament, until finally the wordof God in Hebrews 12:27 is fulfilledand the things that are made areshaken to pieces and removed. Itis fulfilled in the shaking ofHerod’s heart at the time ofChrist’s birth, in the shaking of thenations that brought the wise men

to Bethlehem, in the preaching ofthe gospel to the Gentiles, andwhenever hearts and minds areshaken by the truth concerningChrist. It is fulfilled in the shak-ing of the earth at the crucifixion,in the outpouring of the Spirit onPentecost, in every earthquake thatshakes this present world, and inthe great earthquake at the end ofthe ages (Is. 24:19, 20; Rev. 6:12).

This shaking, as Hebrews 12teaches us, is a shaking of all thingsthat destroys everything but thatwhich cannot be shaken (v. 27). Itshakes this present creation and allthe works of man to pieces, in or-der that only God’s work may re-main. It does that in the judgmentsand destruction that come uponand destroy the ungodly and theirworld and that leave only God’swork of grace in the hearts of Hispeople unshaken. But even inthem, that which is made is re-moved, and only God’s work re-mains, when they are translated bymeans of this shaking into the ev-erlasting kingdom of Christ (Heb.12:28).

We must not set our hearts onthose things that can be and shallbe shaken and removed, nor laborfor them. We must seek thosethings that cannot be shaken, thethings of the everlasting and en-during kingdom of Christ, the king-

dom that cannot bemoved, the king-dom that is centrallythe church and thatis found always inthe institute of thechurch. Even thatshall be shaken,however, and much

that does not really belong to thatkingdom of Christ shall fall awayand be destroyed, both those whoare hypocrites, as well as the sinsof God’s people, and those thingsthat belong now to the life of thechurch in the world but shall notbe necessary in the life to come.

Of this shaking, every earth-quake is a sign. Each is a begin-ning tremor of that great earth-

quake that shall shake not only thedry land but the sea, not only theearth but the heavens. Even thenations are and shall be shaken bythis earthquake. And all but God’swork through Jesus Christ shall beshaken to pieces and destroyed.What a thing it is to experience anearthquake, when we understandthis prophecy of Haggai! An earth-quake is a frightening experiencein any case, when the ground be-neath our feet becomes unstableand unsafe. How much morefrightening when it is seen as thebeginning of that greatest of allquakes.

This shaking, then, takes placeas a revelation of God’s righteousjudgments on the world in whichwe live and on those who live init. The things that are made areremoved. Through that judgmentcomes salvation, however (Is. 1:27;I Pet. 4:17, 18), for those things thatcannot be shaken remain, the glo-rified church in the new heavensand earth (Heb. 12:28).

Though Hebrews interpretsHaggai’s words to mean “yet oncemore,” the “yet a little while” ofHaggai is also true. Always, be-ginning with the coming of Christin Bethlehem, it is but a little whileand this shaking is felt again. FromBethlehem to the cross is but a littlewhile. From the cross to Pentecost,from Pentecost to the gathering ofthe Gentiles, from the ingatheringof the Gentiles to the coming ofChrist — each is but a little while.Even the whole period from thefirst to the second coming of Christis but a “little while,” one day, theday of the Lord, in biblical terms.

This shaking accompanies andis caused by the coming of the De-sire of all nations. We take this,like Handel’s Messiah, as a refer-ence to the coming of Christ, firstin His humiliation and then in Hisglory as the judge of the living andthe dead. The grammar, however,is quite difficult. It has causedmuch controversy and led to verydifferent interpretations of the pas-sage. The RSV translates, “The

A progressive fulfillmentof prophecy meansthat prophecy is alwaysrelevant andalways appliesto the timesin which we live.


treasures of all nations shall comein”; the NKJV, “They (the nations)shall come to the Desire of all na-tions”; and the NIV, “The desiredof all nations shall come” — a fewsamples of the many differences intranslation that are the result of thegrammatical difficulties.

The difficulties are two. Theword translated in the KJV as “de-sire” is feminine and plural, so thatliterally the phrase would read:“The desires of all nations shallcome.” This is the reason why someversions and commentators do notfind in it a reference to Christ butto the precious things, the gifts, thatthe Gentiles bring when they comeinto the kingdom of Christ (cf. Is.60:6). The other difficulty is thatthe verb “shall come” is singularand masculine and does not seemto fit with the word desire. Thatsecond difficulty is not solved, how-ever, by making the noun subjectrefer to the Gentiles and their giftsinstead of to Christ.

Without going into a detailedexplanation of the grammar, we be-lieve that the word “desire” doesrefer to Christ, and the prophecyis similar, therefore, to II Samuel23:5. That the word is plural canonly be, then, because it refers notonly to Christ but to all the richesof His glory and grace. The mas-culine singular verb, we believe,confirms the fact that the passageis a reference to Him alone. It isdifficult to see how the passagecould refer to anything or anyoneelse, since the glory of the temple,which is the main subject here, isnot in its members but in Him.

That He is called the Desire ofall nations is a reference to the factthat in His saving grace and powerHe is lovely to the people of God.They say of Him: “He is altogetherlovely. This is my beloved and thisis my friend, O daughters of Jerusa-lem” (Song 5:16). They say this, ofcourse, only by grace, for withoutgrace He is not seen as lovely, butis despised and rejected. He iscalled the Desire of the nations es-pecially, however, because He is

the fulfillment of everything thetemple represented, the covenantand fellowship with God as mem-bers of His family under one roof.

He is literally the “Desires” ofthe nations, because all pleasantand desirable riches are found inHim. One of the early church fa-thers, Ignatius, says of Him:

Hungerest thou and desirest food?Long for Jesus! He is the breadand refreshment of Angels! He ismanna, containing in Him allsweetness and pleasurable delight.Thirstest thou? Long for Jesus! Heis the well of living water, refresh-ing, so that thou shouldest thirstno more. Art thou sick? Go toJesus. He is the Saviour, the phy-sician, nay, salvation itself. Artthou dying? Sigh for Jesus! He isthe resurrection and the life. Artthou perplexed? Come to Jesus!He is the Angel of the great coun-sel. Art thou ignorant and erring?Ask Jesus! He is the way, the truthand the life. Art thou a sinner?Call on Jesus! For He shall saveHis people from their sins. To thisend He came into the world: Thisis all His fruit, to take away sin.Art thou tempted by pride, glut-tony, lust, sloth? Call on Jesus! Heis humility, soberness, chastity,love, fervor: He bare our infirmi-ties, and carried, yea still bearethand carrieth, our griefs. Seekestthou beauty? He is fairer than thechildren of men. Seekest thouwealth? In Him are all treasures,yea in Him the fullness of theGodhead dwelleth. Art thou am-bitious of honors? Glory andriches are in His house. He is theKing of glory. Seekest thou afriend? He hath the greatest lovefor thee, Who for the love of theecame down from heaven, toiled,endured the Sweat of Blood, theCross and Death; He prayed forthee by name in the garden, andpoured forth teats of Blood!Seekest thou wisdom? He is theEternal and Uncreated Wisdom ofthe Father! Wishest thou for con-solation and joy? He is the sweet-ness of souls, the joy and jubileeof Angels. Wishest thou for righ-teousness and holiness? He is theHoly of holies; He is everlastingRighteousness, justifying and sanc-

tifying all who believe and hopein Him. Wishest thou for a bliss-ful life? He is life eternal, the blissof the saints. Long then for Him,love Him, sigh for Him! In Himthou wilt find all good; out of Him,all evil, all misery.1

Because the temple in the OldTestament was the place of God’scovenant it was sometimes referredto as the desire of God’s people.Thus Ezekiel 24:21:

Speak unto the house of Israel,Thus saith the Lord God; behold,I will profane my sanctuary, theexcellency of your strength, thedesire of your eyes, and thatwhich your soul pitieth.

And Psalm 84 says the same,though in different terms:

How amiable are thy taber-nacles, O Lord of hosts! My soullongeth, yea, even fainteth for thecourts of the Lord: my heart andmy flesh crieth out for the livingGod.... For a day in thy courts isbetter than a thousand. I hadrather be a doorkeeper in thehouse of my God, than to dwellin the tents of wickedness (vv. 1,2, 10).

Of that temple and house ofGod Christ is the reality to whichthe pictures pointed, the truetemple of which the Old Testamenttemple was but a shadow. ThatHe is that true temple is clear fromJohn 2:21. There the Word of Godadds to Jesus’ words concerningthe destruction and rebuilding ofthe temple this explanation: “Buthe spake of the temple of hisbody.” He is that true temple be-cause in Him God dwells with Hispeople and is their God. As Paulsays in Colossians 2:9, 10: “In himdwelleth all the fulness of theGodhead bodily. And ye are com-plete in him....”

1. Quoted from E. B. Pusey, The Mi-nor Prophets: A Commentary Explanatoryand Practical, (Baker Book House:Grand Rapids, 1977), vol. II, pp. 312,313.


Taking Heed to the Doctrine Rev. Steven Key

Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Re-formed Church of Hull, Iowa.

The Gathering of the Churchthat the biblical terms for churchspeak of an assembly called out.The church consists of those calledout. Called out speaks of a separa-tion. It speaks of a significant sepa-ration, a spiritual separation.

The church is separated from,gathered out of, the fallen humanrace. That makes this gathering ofthe church an amazing wonder, awonder in which God reveals Him-self as rich in mercy, the God andFather of our Lord Jesus Christ.The human race from which Godgathers His church, is, after all,dead in trespasses and sins, the ob-ject of God’s just and holy wrath.

In gathering His church, there-fore, God must quicken the dead!

In gathering His church, Godshows the exceeding riches of Hisgrace in His kindness toward usthrough Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:7). Ingathering His church, He looksupon those who stand in enmityagainst Him, whose very lives aremarked by profanity against Him,and He calls out those who by thewonder work of His particulargrace are made in Christ Jesus aroyal priesthood, an holy nation, apeculiar people, to show forth Hispraise (I Pet. 2:9).

This gathering, which brings toexpression the spiritual separationbetween believers and unbelievers,has its source and reason in thesovereign and eternal good plea-sure of God. The gathering of thechurch is the out-working of God’ssovereign decree of election(which, by the very nature of God’sabsolute sovereignty, also impliesreprobation). And it is this spiri-tual separation wrought by God’s

sovereign gathering of His churchthat comes to expression in thechurch’s holiness.

A Historical WorkThe gathering of the church

takes place throughout history.Contrary to the teachings of

dispensationalism, the Bible makesno separation between Israel andthe church. While the significanceof this is a matter to be drawn outin connection with our comingtreatment of infant baptism severalmonths from now, God willing, wemust at least call attention to ithere.

Israel is the church, as gatheredin the Old Testament.

That is made clear by Stephenin his inspired exposition of OldTestament history just prior to hismartyrdom, as recorded in Actschapter 7. In recounting the his-tory of Moses, who led Israel outof Egypt and through the Red Seaupon dry ground, and who servedas the type of the coming Media-tor, Stephen said (Acts 7:37-38):“This is that Moses, which saidunto the children of Israel, Aprophet shall the Lord your Godraise up unto you of your breth-ren, like unto me; him shall yehear. This is he, that was in thechurch in the wilderness....” Israel,God’s Old Testament people, is re-ferred to by the Holy Spirit as thechurch (ekklesia). This means thatthe church is gathered both frombelieving Jews and believing Gen-tiles to form the one body of Christ.As the apostle wrote in Romans2:28-29, “For he is not a Jew, whichis one outwardly; neither is that cir-

aving considered the na-ture of the church and itsessential character, we

begin to give more attention nowto the formation of that church aswe see her and live within her. Weconsider her institutional andearthly form. And we begin, there-fore, with the gathering of thechurch.

The church of Jesus Christ, cho-sen by God from eternity (Eph. 1:4),is gathered by the Son of God intoan institutional form in the midstof the world. As the HeidelbergCatechism summarizes the teach-ing of Scripture concerning the doc-trine of the church, we are told that“the Son of God, from the begin-ning to the end of the world, gath-ers, defends, and preserves to Him-self by His Spirit and Word” thatchurch chosen to everlasting life.That means also that He gathersthe individual members of that oneglorious church.

The gathering of the church isprecious in God’s sight. For thatchurch is the beautiful bride of Hisown dear Son, the one whom Hecalls “my love, my fair one,” as theSong of Solomon makes clear. It isChrist’s gathering of the church byHis Spirit and Word that sets herapart and distinguishes her as Hisown. For that reason this truth isalso precious to us who are His.

A Distinguishing WorkThe church is gathered out of

the world. It is not without reason

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cumcision, which is outward in theflesh: But he is a Jew, which is oneinwardly; and circumcision is thatof the heart, in the spirit, and notin the letter; whose praise is not ofmen, but of God.”

This truth is established in ourReformed confessions, both in theHeidelberg Catechism, whichspeaks of the Son of God gather-ing His church “from the beginningto the end of the world,” but alsoin the Belgic Confession, Article 27,where we are told, “This churchhath been from the beginning of theworld, and will be to the endthereof; which is evident from this,that Christ is an eternal King,which without subjects He cannotbe.”

In addition, the historical gath-ering of the church takes place, notexclusively, but most emphaticallyin the line of the generations of be-lievers. This again is a matter thatwill be developed and emphasizedin connection with the treatment ofinfant baptism. But it is importantalso to note in connection with thetruth of God’s gathering of thechurch. For this emphasizes notonly the gracious purpose of Godwith His people, but also the im-portance of the church’s (and par-ents’) calling to teach the church’schildren. Pastors must feed notonly the sheep, but also the lambs!

A Divine WorkThat being said, let it be un-

derstood that the emphasis of theHeidelberg Catechism in Questionand Answer 54 is correct when itspeaks of the gathering of thechurch as a divine work. The gath-ering of the church is not the workof ministers, nor of parents, but ofGod in Christ and by His HolySpirit.

When we understand, as wasmentioned earlier, that the gather-ing of the church is a wonder ofgrace and the out-working of God’ssovereign decree of election, itstands to be emphasized that thiswork is exclusively His work. It isnothing less than absurd to think

that the church must come into ex-istence by the will and work ofmen. Is the creation itself the prod-uct of man’s cooperation with God?No more can we speak of thechurch being created by man’s co-operation with God.

Here the Reformed faith differsfrom that of the Roman CatholicChurch and all forms of evangeli-cal Arminianism that teach that thechurch comes into existence by thefree will and choice of those whowould join her. While a person cer-tainly has a choice in joining theinstitution of the church, and standsresponsible before God for belong-ing to a church that is faithful (amatter that we will be consideringlater, God willing), the church thatGod gathers is not a mere religiousmovement constituted by followersof some prophet, such asMohammed. Nor is it the productof persuasive preachers. It is thewonder work of grace that Godalone accomplishesthrough Jesus Christand by His Spiritand Word.

Christ is the Onewho said, “I willbuild my church”(Matt. 16:18). That isa comfort for us too.For then we can alsobelieve Him whenHe immediately follows that state-ment with the promise, “and thegates of hell shall not prevailagainst it.”

Accomplished by God’sAppointed Means

While we emphasize that thegathering of the church is exclu-sively a divine work, we do notdeny that God also uses means toaccomplish His sovereign purpose.

The church is gathered out ofand spiritually separated from thewhole human race by the divinecalling.

This wonder work of God insalvation we have treated earlier,and will not repeat our develop-ment of this concept. But there is

in Scripture an emphasis upon thistruth that God gathers His churchby sovereignly calling His peopleout of darkness into His marvel-ous light.

In Isaiah 43, there is a beauti-ful connection made between thecalling and God’s gathering Hispeople by that wonder work of Hisgrace. We read in verse 1 of thatchapter, “But now thus saith theLORD that created thee, O Jacob,and he that formed thee, O Israel,Fear not: for I have redeemed thee,I have called thee by thy name;thou art mine.” Further explana-tion is given by the Lord in verses5 through 7: “Fear not: for I amwith thee: I will bring thy seedfrom the east, and gather thee fromthe west; I will say to the north,Give up; and to the south, Keepnot back: bring my sons from far,and my daughters from the endsof the earth; Even every one that iscalled by my name: for I have cre-

ated him for myglory, I have formedhim; yea, I havemade him.”In I Corinthians 1:9,

the inspired apostlewrites, “God isfaithful, by whom yewere called unto thefellowship of his SonJesus Christ our

Lord.” And to the church atThessalonica, he writes in IIThessalonians 2:13-14, “But we arebound to give thanks alway to Godfor you, brethren beloved of theLord, because God hath from thebeginning chosen you to salvationthrough sanctification of the Spiritand belief of the truth: Whereuntohe called you by our gospel, to theobtaining of the glory of our LordJesus Christ.”

That calling, and therefore thatgathering of the church, though ac-complished through the preachingof the gospel, is exclusively God’swork. The preaching of a particu-lar minister may be ever so plain,persuasive, and powerful, but itcan never bring one soul out of

The preachingof a particular ministermay be ever so plain,persuasive, and powerful,but it can never bringone soul out of darkness,nor add one memberto the body of Christ.


When Thou Sittest in Thine House Mrs. Jan Miersma

Mrs. Miersma is the wife of Rev. ThomasMiersma, missionary in Spokane, WA.

darkness, nor add one member tothe body of Christ. But when Godspeaks through that preaching, Hepowerfully accomplishes thatwhich no man can accomplish. Hebrings life out of death!

Because God is pleased to usethe means of gospel preaching, andbecause He gathers His church by“the foolishness of preaching” (ICor. 1), He gives the church thecalling of the great commission

(Matt. 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Luke24:46-48).

Because He gathers His churchby this means, He commissions andcalls men to preach the gospel.

Because He calls His own bythe preaching of the gospel, Hesends forth His people as witnessesto the power of His embrace, anduses them in drawing others alsounder the preaching that gathers.

Because He gathers even thelittle lambs by the power of His

gospel, He gives His church thecalling also to teach the covenantchildren — also by faithful cat-echism instruction, which is but an-other form of gospel preaching.

But in all our labors we are de-pendent upon Him. And for thatreason we also labor in hope, andrejoice in seeing God perform thatwonder work of His grace in thegathering of His church, to theglory of His own name.

Royal Childrenhat joy we experienceas God’s people whenwe welcome a new

child into our home! Whether it bethe first or the ninth, when the longtime of waiting is over and the babyarrives safely, our hearts, filled withgratitude to God, rejoice. Verysoon, as the calling to care for andto train the child confronts us, weare struck by our absolute depen-dence on our faithful covenant God.When a new season of instructionof covenant children in home,church, and school begins, there isa renewal of that anticipation andrejoicing, a renewal of our commit-ment to faithfulness in the nurtureand instruction of covenant chil-dren, and a renewal of our sense ofdependence on our sovereign God.To us as new parents, as parents ofmany children, and as pastors andteachers, these children are preciousand unique.

But whose children are they?In a sense, they are our children,

but only in a limited sense. Godplaces in our homes His own chil-dren, children who belong to theheavenly King. We are but stew-ards, to whom the great and heav-enly King entrusts the care andtraining of His own children, chil-dren who have a royal calling andfor whom a royal inheritance isprepared.

God shows to us in the Scrip-tures the heart of our life as Hispeople, which is living in covenantrelationship with Him, by meansof various earthly relationships, re-lationships that God created witha view to manifesting His covenantto us. Although they reveal differ-ent aspects of God’s covenant tous, friendship and communion oflife stand on the foreground ofthese relationships, which includethe father-child relationship, thelord-servant relationship, the king-subject or citizen relationship, and,as church, the bridegroom-bride re-lationship. This friendship andcommunion of life are set in theframework of a relationship of sov-ereign salvation and protection andhumble gratitude; sovereign au-thority and joyful submission; andfaithful care and childlike depen-

dence. Uniting a number of theseideas, we may also say that, sinceour Father is the great King, we,with our children, as His children,are not only citizens and servantsin His heavenly kingdom, but chil-dren and heirs of the King. Thisinheritance of royal sonship will befully realized when we reign withChrist over all things in a newheavens and new earth.

The King wants us to know theorigin of these royal children en-trusted to our care. Although notborn of royal seed according totheir earthly, fleshly birth, born, infact, hating the King, yet they arerescued from their birthplace in thefilthy slums of sin. The great Cap-tain of our salvation Jesus Christenters into that place of misery torelease them from the very campof the King’s enemies. An analogyto the adoption of a wretched andmiserable orphan has frequentlybeen drawn and helps us to under-stand what God does in our livesand the lives of our children. Yetthe analogy to an earthly parent islimited. Although a man mayadopt a desolate orphan and givethat orphan everything he pos-sesses as his heir, he can never

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make that orphan a child of hisown flesh. When God adopts andregenerates us, however, by thewonder of our union with Christand the indwelling of the HolySpirit, He makes us “partakers ofthe divine nature” (II Pet. 1:4) —royal children indeed.

Still, to our sorrow, we mustbe aware that as long as we andour children live in the flesh, ourmiserable origin will have its ef-fects. Satan and the world of sin,the enemy without, and our ownsinful natures, the enemy within,beckon the former orphans back tothose prison-camp slums. Sadlytoo, there are children of the en-emy, whose identity is hidden fromus, mixed in with the body of royalchildren, a sort of fifth column ofenemy sympathizers and support-ers seeking to undermine the royalchildren. Nevertheless, God callsour children His children; He hasgiven them a new, heavenly birth;Christ calls them His lambs. Asroyal children, then, we will viewthem, as royal children we willtrain them, and as royal childrenwe will hope for them. We seethem in the light of what God callsthem to be, now and future priest-kings, children of a heavenly King.

Will this lead to pride? Surelynot, for it is only when we viewourselves and our children in thelight both of their miserable originand of the new birth out of whichGod calls them to live, that we be-gin to see how far we fall short ofHis glory.

What a privilege and responsi-bility then is ours — to bring forthand train the children of our heav-enly King, to be the means by Hisappointment to nurture and instructthose who will one day reign withChrist, the King of kings, but whoeven now, as child-citizens, have thecalling to fight the battle of faith ina world under enemy occupation,consecrating all to the service oftheir Father-King. If this conscious-ness does not live in our hearts andminds, we will quickly lose the fo-cus that alone can strengthen and

equip us for this awesome calling.We will fall into a habit of livingmerely reactively, with a crisis-ori-ented mindset. “What are they intonow?” or “How am I going to getall this work done?” or “How can Iprovide for this financial need oremergency?” These thoughts oftenarise, and must arise, but that can-not be the whole of our lives. Thenwe become, like Martha, “cumberedabout with much serving.” Thenwe need to hear our Savior’s in-struction, “Mary hath chosen thatgood part, which shall not be takenaway from her” (Luke 10:38-42).Time must be allotted for dailymeditation and prayer, preferablymore time, but at least some time.Without this, our labors lose theirmeaning, their focus.

When this consciousness livesin us, we will not, like many in theworld about us, see our childrenas our possessions, as somethingwe acquire by our own efforts ordecision, as we would a house or acar. Nor will we desire childrenfor our own pleasure, though theydo afford us tremendous joy andpleasure. “Surely, we would neverdo that,” you say.Yet, if the attitudeof the world rubsoff on us, as it soeasily does in thisage of media bom-bardment, wemight be temptedto say, “Now weare ready for chil-dren,” or “Wecan’t afford an-other child,” or “I was hoping fora boy (or girl),” or “We decided tohave another baby.” Rather, in hu-mility we say, “The fruit of thewomb is His reward.” Royal chil-dren are privileges then, not pos-sessions.

What is to be the goal in train-ing the children of our heavenlyKing? Certainly, we have earthlygoals for educational achievementor practical accomplishments forour children — all the way fromweaning and toilet training to

driver training. These are all nec-essary and have their proper place,which is in subordination to thegoal, and that goal is nothing lessthan that Christ be formed in thesechildren. As God’s great King, thegreat Captain of our salvation JesusChrist is the firstborn among manybrethren (Rom. 8:29), and inGalatians 4:19 the apostle Paulwrites, “My little children, ofwhom I travail in birth again untilChrist be formed in you….” If theapostle spoke this concerning thebelievers with whom he labored inthe churches of Galatia, we mayalso take this as our goal, and la-bor with the same intensity intraining the King’s children.

The analogy to childbirth isstriking. We do not create or shapeour children in the womb. That isthe almighty, creative work of God.Nor do we form or fashion spiri-tual life in our children. Again,this is the almighty, creative workof God. Yet, when the time of birthcomes, the mother, with the fatherupholding and strengthening her,must labor with all her might tobring forth the child. It is an all-

consuming, com-pletely goal-ori-ented event.Never for a mo-ment can that goalbe forgotten. Justas the earthly pil-grimage of ourchildren beginswith such labor, sodo we labor con-tinually in an all-

consuming travail in the spiritualbirth of our children, longing thatChrist be formed in them.

Let us not then view this spiri-tual ideal that God sets before usas a burdensome task, but ratheras a glorious privilege of our sal-vation. Truly it is a humblingthought that the King of kingswould entrust the training of Hisown beloved children to the careand wisdom of such miserablewretches as we are. Do we deservethis? How could we? To be given

Truly it isa humbling thoughtthat the King of kingswould entrustthe trainingof His own beloved childrento the care and wisdomof such miserable wretchesas we are.


such a place of responsibility in theheavenly kingdom surpasses any-thing we have a right to expect.Idealistic? Yes. Impossible of per-fect attainment in this life? Yes.Yet we strive toward the ideal,knowing that it is God Himselfwho sets that ideal before us andthat “Faithful is he that calleth you,who also will do it” (I Thess. 5:24).

Still more marvelous, it isthrough this very means that Godreveals to us and our children thesecrets of His covenant. First, bygiving us this responsibility andprivilege, He causes our own rela-tionship with Him to grow. Heopens our eyes to sins and weak-nesses we had never imagined inourselves and sends us fleeing tothe cross as the only foundation ofour life with Him. He works in usa consciousness of our complete

dependence on Him and His wis-dom. Secondly, by setting us infamily life (as a rule, at least forsome portion of our lives), Godgives us to experience in a crea-turely way the picture of the di-vine communion of love and lifewithin Himself as Father, Son, andHoly Spirit, that very life intowhich He takes us in our new birthfrom above. Day by day, as welive the life of God’s covenant inour homes, He shows us, too,through the eyeglasses of HisWord, what it is that He loves uswith a father’s love, how as a fa-ther pitieth his children, He pitiesus (Ps. 103:13), how “as one whomhis mother comforteth, so will Icomfort you” (Is. 66:13), how Hechastens us, rebukes us, and re-ceives us (Heb. 12:5ff.).

How sad that among Christians

there are those who would willfullycut themselves off from this blessedprivilege by refusing to have chil-dren, refusing this God-appointedway of knowing God’s covenant oflove and friendship. There arethose in God’s church who willnever have the privilege and joydirectly of bringing forth and rear-ing the royal seed, by God’s ownappointment and in His wisdom,but He will bless them in the wayof their longings and desires for aplace in His covenant, promisingthem, “in mine house and withinmy walls a place and a name bet-ter than of sons and daughters: Iwill give them an everlasting name,that shall not be cut off” (Is. 56:5).

I will endeavor, the Lord will-ing, to return to more particular as-pects of our calling to train theroyal children in future articles.

Islam (1)

A Little History:Jihad Without End (concl.)

Understanding the Times Mr. Calvin Kalsbeek

“And the children of Issachar,which were men that had understand-ing of the times, to know what Israelought to do; the heads of them weretwo hundred; and all their brethrenwere at their commandment.”

I Chronicles 12: 32

hat about the present?Has Islam changed?Does jihad refer to a

spiritual struggle rather than aphysical one? Is Islam now apeaceful religion as many claim?Robert Spencer, director of JihadWatch and author of Onward Mus-lim Soldiers, believes otherwise. Hewrites:

…the widespread Western as-sumption about Islam—that be-cause it is a religion, it containscore teachings of love, peace andbrotherhood that people of goodwill can emphasize against thosewho would twist the religion tocontrary purposes—begins to ringhollow. Self-proclaimed moderateMuslims in the United States haveinsisted that they be regarded at

all times as unflaggingly patrioticand filled with civic zeal whateverunpleasant evidence to the con-trary that individual cases mayprovide.1

The Unpleasant EvidenceEvidence for present world-

wide Islamic jihad of the militantsort is legion. Note just a few ex-amples:

Nigeria — Forty-eight peoplehave been hacked to death inYelwa, Nigeria, by armed Mus-

1. Robert Spencer, “Calling the Is-lamic Reform Bluff,” Human Events 21June, 2004:24.

Mr. Kalsbeek is a teacher in CovenantChristian High School and a member ofHope Protestant Reformed Church,Walker, Michigan.

Previous article in this series can befound in the September 1, 2004 issue, p.467.

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lims, many during a church meet-ing, according to Christian Soli-darity Worldwide (CSW).

A recent upsurge in violence insouthern Plateau State in Nigeriahas claimed at least 100 lives andis the worst single incident so far,at least 48 people were murdered,many during an early morningprayer service on 24 Feb., CSW re-ported.

Armed Muslims invaded theservice, ordered the congregationto lie face down and proceeded“to machete and axe them to deathin their house of worship” accord-ing to the Christian Association ofNigeria. The victims includedwomen and children.2

Istanbul — A Pakistani Christianteenager kidnapped for more thantwo weeks in November has beenforced into hiding to avoid recap-ture by Muslim extremists. Lead-ers of a fanatic Islamic school havevowed to send Zeeshan Gill, whojust turned 16, to fight in Kash-mir as a newly-converted Muslimjihadi (holy warrior). Abducted 7Nov. on his way home fromschool, the boy was taken to theJamia al Qasim al Aloom Islamicschool. Kept there under guard,Gill was forced to recite the Is-lamic creed, an act that makes onea Muslim under the tenets of Is-lam. The boy was beaten by hiscaptors, who declared that theywould kill him if he tried to runaway or convert back to Christian-ity. Four days before theyplanned to send him to Kashmir,the boy returned home to tell hismother what had happened. Mrs.Gill fled the city with Zeeshan,who remains in hiding at presstime.3

Zanzibar — Churchgoers on theMusl im dominated is land ofZanzibar off the coast of Tanza-nia are aware of a growing threatby Muslim extremists suspectedof carrying out recent attacksagainst church facilities. “Thereare some people who think theycan do away with the Christians,and most of them are comingfrom outside (the country),” saidFather Arbogast Mushi of the Ro-man Catholic Diocese of Zanzi-bar. Tensions increased on 5

Mar. when the Islamist groupUAMSHO (Revival and Propaga-tion Organization) held an ille-gal rally despite a governmentban imposed after previous dem-onstrations in which UAMSHOdistributed jihad-training videosand literature. The group urgedkilling secular politicians whorefuse to impose sharia, or Is-lamic law. Five days later, ar-sonists set f i re to a RomanCatholic church in the Jumbi dis-trict.4

Pakistan — Pakistani police re-luctantly detained a Muslim clericafter a Christian university stu-dent savagely tortured inside anIslamic madrassah (seminary)died of his injuries. MaulviGhulam Rasool was put underdetention at a Toba Tek Singh po-lice station on 2 May, about 10hours after 19 year-old JavedAnjum died in a Faisalabad hos-pital. Rasool has been identifiedas a prayer leader and watchmanat the Jamia Hassan Bin MurtazaMadrasseh, where Anjum wastortured for five days last month.In testimony videotaped by hisfamily as he lay on his deathbed,the third-year student in com-merce at Quetta’s GovernmentCollege said he was seized bypeople from the madrasseh whenhe stopped there to get a drinkof water. They pressured theyoung man to convert to Islam.When Anjum resisted, his captorsbroke his right arm and fingers,pulled out some fingernails andseverely beat him. The injuriescaused Anjum’s death from kid-ney failure, despite repeated di-alysis treatments.5

Ambon — This Indonesian citywas a key base of operations forthe now-disbanded Lasker Jihad,which killed as many as 10,000Christians during three years ofbloody sectarian strife. LaskarJihad’s leader, Jaffar Umar Thalib,issued numerous belligerent state-ments that made it abundantlyclear that he regarded his struggleas a religious war.6

Sudan — With material help fromFrance, the Muslim regime inKhartoum continues to wage a

bloody jihad against Christians inthe southern part of the country….So far it has claimed the lives oftwo million Sudanese Christiansand displaced five million more.Countless Christians have beenkidnapped and enslaved, andeven forcibly recruited by the gov-ernment to fight this jihad…. Inspring 2003, radical Muslimsburned a Christian pastor and hisfamily to death while carrying outan unprovoked massacre of fifty-nine villagers.7

United States — …according toDemocratic senator Robert Gra-ham of Florida, former chairmanof the Senate Intelligence Commit-tee, the Lebanese terrorist groupHezbollah (the Party of Allah),which receives as much as $100million each year from the IslamicRepublic of Iran, “has a significantpresence of its trained operativesinside the United States waitingfor the call to action…. They area violent terrorist group. Andthey have demonstrated through-out their now twenty-five-yearhistory a hatred of the UnitedStates and a willingness to kill ourpeople…. There are a number oflessons we should learn from Sep-tember 11. One of those lessonsis that these terrorist groups tendto do what they say they’re goingto do. If they define the UnitedStates as being Satanic—and thattherefore they want to kill us—they will find ways to carry outthat objective.”8

Great Britain — In Britain lastweek … a group of mujahedin gotinvolved in sports, but theyweren’t playing the game. Tensuspected Islamic terrorists werearrested just before they hadplanned to blow themselves upamid a crowd of nearly 70,000people at a soccer game betweentwo popular teams, ManchesterUnited and Liverpool.9

Jordan — … a jihadist attack onthe U.S. Embassy and other tar-gets in Amman, Jordan was foiled.The plot involved the unleashingof poison chemicals that wouldhave killed upwards of 80,000people. According to the NewYork Post, “The authorities said a


group of 10 suspects planned topack the truck bombs with deadlycocktails of 71 lethal chemicals—including blistering agents, nervegas and choking agents—and thensimultaneously crash them intotheir targets.”10

The Overwhelming EvidenceThe evidence is overwhelming!

Although throughout Islamic his-tory jihad has meant many things,including both a spiritual and mar-tial element, the downplaying ofthe latter by Islamic sympathizersis unconvincing in light of theabundance of current militant jihadpractice around the world. In ad-dition, Islam’s history, tradition,and holy writings lend clear sup-port for the violent j ihad ofpresent-day radical Islam andmake it highly unlikely that theywill change their terrorist waysanytime soon.

We have already seen in previ-ous articles that the history of Is-lam is red with the blood of its actsof violence. This history goes allthe way back to the violent jihadof Islam’s founder, Muhammad.All of which would certainly bedisconcerting for the believer wereit not for the fact that he under-stands that this is, in part at least,that which is spoken of in the open-ing of the second seal of Revela-tion 6:4: “And there went out an-other horse that was red: andpower was given to him that satthereon to take peace from theearth, and that they should kill oneanother: and there was given untohim a great sword.”

Not only is radical Islam’s mili-tant jihad grounded in history, italso has firm justification both inthe Quran and Hadith (the collec-tion of sayings and acts ofMuhammed). A few quotes fromthose documents will make thatclear:

—From Sura 9:1-6: …fight andslay the pagans wherever ye findthem, and seize them, beleagerthem, and lie in wait for them inevery stratagem (of war).

—Sura 9:29-31: Fight those whobelieve not in God nor the lastday, nor hold that forbiddenwhich hath been forbidden by Godand his Apostle (Muhammed), noracknowledge the religion of truth(Islam) … until they pay jizya (polltax on non-Islamics) with willingsubmission, and feel themselvessubdued.—Hadith 4:44: A man came toMuhammed and said, “Instructme as to such a deed as equalsJihad.” He replied, “I do not findsuch a deed.”—Hadith 4:50: Muhammed said,“A single endeavor (of fighting)in Allah’s cause in the forenoonor in the afternoon is better thanthe world and whatever is in it.”—Hadith 4:72: Muhammed said,“Nobody who enters Paradiselikes to go back to the world evenif he got everything on the earth,except a Mujahid (one who fightsin jihad) who wishes to return tothe world so that he may bemartyred ten times because of thedignity he receives (from Allah).”—Hadith 4:73: Muhammed said,“Know that Paradise is under theshade of swords.”

These and many other quotesfrom the Quran and Hadith makeclear that radical Islam’s violentjihad is no doubt consistent withtheir holy writings. They practicewhat they preach! In light of thisit is very difficult for more moder-ate Muslims to condemn the ac-tions of their radical brothers; todo so would put them at odds withtheir own holy writings.

Furthermore, they preach whatthey practice: the ideas of militantIslam are taught in the schools. Acase in point is the high school text-book, Islamic Culture, produced bythe Palestinian Authority Ministryof Education. This book teachesyoung Muslims, “Islam is Allah’sreligion for all (emphasis mine, c.k.)human beings. It should be pro-claimed and invite (people) to joinit wisely and through appropriatepreaching and friendly discussions.However, such methods may en-counter resistance and the preach-ers may be prevented from accom-

plishing their duty … then, Jihadand the use of physical force againstthe enemies become inevitable….”Also taught is Islam’s belief that theworld is divided into two portions:the Dar al Islam, the world of Is-lam, and the Dar al Harb, the worldof war. According to this view ofthe world, peace is possible onlywithin the world of Islam, and thenon-Islamic world is a battlefieldwhere Muslims are required to waragainst the unbelievers.

In this light the modern-daychildren of Issachar must recog-nize that the conflict between Is-lam and the West is not merely aresult of U.S. support of Israel,past conflict, and Western eco-nomic policies that affect Muslimcountries. It is much more thanthat. It is a war of ideas, world-views if you will. Their cry of“Death to the West” is no idlethreat, but rather an expression oftheir worldview that Islam and theWest cannot coexist! No doubt theworld will stand in awe of thebeast that will bring these two an-tithetical worldviews into a sem-blance of peace under his rule(Rev. 13 & 17).

2. Elizabeth Kendal, “SpreadingFlame,” Christian Observer April ,2004:30.

3. Kendal: 30.4. Compass Direct, “Spreading

Flame,” Christian Observer May,2004:30.

5. Compass Direct, “SpreadingFlame,” Christian Observer July,2004:30.

6. Robert Spencer, Onward MuslimSoldiers (Washington D.C.: RegneryPublishing, Inc., 2003) 43.

7. Spencer 46-47.8. Spencer 48-49.9. Robert Spencer, “Of Crusaders

and Jihadis,” Human Events 3 May,2004:24.

10. Spencer 24.


Prof. Hanko is professor emeritus ofChurch History and New Testament inthe Protestant Reformed Seminary.

Cocceius and Historical Theology (1)guages of Scripture. His scholar-ship was widely recognized: hetaught in his hometown of Bremenand in some of the most prestigiousuniversities in the Netherlands:Leiden and Franeker. Although theUniversity of Franeker has becomea rest home for the aged, one canstill see Cocceius’ name carved inthe stone about the main entrance.

The period during which helived was one of the most flourish-ing periods of Reformed theologyin the Netherlands and the entirecontinent of Europe, and he wasone of many towering defenders ofthe Reformed faith, most of whomwere present at the great Synod ofDordrecht. It was the age of thedevelopment of the truths of Cal-vinism and the systematization ofthese truths in dogmatical works.

Yet, Cocceius was always “oddman out.” Of German extraction,he never quite felt at home amongthe Dutch. In an age of somewhatloose living (partly because the Re-formed Church was a NationalChurch and included all the citi-zens of the country on its rolls), hewas noted for his piety. In a timeof systematic theology he intro-duced a new way of dealing withdogmatics, a way with which weare now occupied.

Cocceius’ ConcernsCocceius was primarily an Old

Testament scholar, although hisabilities in languages qualified himto teach New Testament as well.In the course of his studies he be-came convinced that the churchwas responsible for serious errorswhen theologians wrote and taughttheology as a systematic body ofdoctrine. He was of the opinionthat the wealth of biblical truth,

along with its rich teachings andits emphasis on piety, were ob-scured in theological treatises suchas systematic theologies or Re-formed dogmatics. He developedwhat has become known as bibli-cal theology.

It seems as if Cocceius’ majorconcern was his fear that system-atic theology omitted Christian pi-ety. The works on dogmatics thathad been written were so commit-ted to a systematizing and analy-sis of all the truths of Scripture thatthe godliness, the Christian life, thesubjective experience of the faith,the piety that ought to be a part ofthe life of every child of God, wereignored. One was left with cold,abstract, complicated, and involvedtheology that appealed to the in-tellect and not to the heart. It lefta person with a head full of knowl-edge, but did nothing for his owninner life of faith and his walk as achild of God in the world. Coc-ceius was interested in piety.

Cocceius had other concerns, allrelated to the dangers of systematictheology. He was concerned withthe fact that the study of Scripturehad become, in large measure, amatter of “proof-texting.” Theolo-gians developed individual doc-trines of Scripture, such as justifi-cation by faith alone, eternal andsovereign predestination, the perse-verance of the saints, and sought toprove these doctrines from Scrip-ture by citing texts found through-out Scripture, in both the Old andNew Testaments. The Bible wasused for proof texts, little else.

The major task of the theolo-gian was to discover proof texts,build his doctrines on them, andproceed in a very rational andcoldly intellectual way to analyze,

Marking the Bulwarks of Zion Prof. Herman Hanko

Introduction

t would be a mistake to callJohannes Cocceius a hereticand to include him in a series

of portraits of those who intro-duced heresy into the church.Cocceius was wrong in some as-pects of his theology, but he wasalso very right in other ideas, par-ticularly in his doctrine of the cov-enant. His wrong ideas sparked abitter controversy in the church,which lasted beyond his own life-time. And his wrong ideas intro-duced into the thinking of thechurch a way of studying andteaching theology that has had ex-tremely detrimental consequencesin the church even today. That iswhy his ideas are worth our study.

I will forego a biographicalsketch of his life, except for somebrief facts, because I included alengthy description of his life in mybook Portraits of Faithful Saints. Inthat book is a brief summary ofCocceius’ ideas and a biographicalsketch of the life and the impor-tance of his chief opponent,Gijsbert Voetius.1 The reader isurged to read these two chaptersprior to reading this discussion ofCocceius.

A Brief Sketch of His LifeCocceius was born in Emden,

Germany in 1609, and was, there-fore, a contemporary of the Synodof Dordt, although he was tooyoung to attend. He was an out-standing scholar and was espe-cially trained in the original lan-

I


dissect, and parse every doctrineso that it could be laid bare in allits implications.

Another serious danger arosefrom this approach, according toCocceius. Texts from Scripturewere misused when they served asproofs for given doctrines. Theywere frequently torn out of context;their place in Scripture went un-recognized; and exegesis did nottake into account the historical cir-cumstances under which the giventext was written. To use an ex-ample (my own), in proof of thedoctrine of the resurrection of thebody, not only was Paul’s power-ful description of our bodily resur-rection used as proof for the doc-trine, but Job’s words in Job 19were also quoted as proof: “I knowthat my Redeemer liveth….” Butno significance was given to thefact that Job lived around 2000years before Paul, was a contem-porary of Abraham, and could nothave understood the truth of theresurrection as well as one wholived after the outpouring of theSpirit. Job’s words simply becameone more “proof” for a doctrine;but the meaning, the limited un-derstanding, the power, the forceof them in Job’s life were lost.

Before we move on, it is wellthat we grant Cocceius the pointthat a systematic approach to Scrip-ture in the interests of Reformeddogmatics can indeed result inthese errors. The method of theinterpretation of Scripture that hasbeen adopted by the church sincethe third and fourth centuries iscalled the grammatical-historicalmethod. The use of that methodimplies that each passage of Scrip-ture must be interpreted in its ownhistorical context, and the questionmust be asked: What did this pas-sage mean to the saints at the timeit was given by God? Cocceiuspointed to a real danger.

Cocceius’ MethodIn the place of systematic the-

ology, Cocceius proposed anothermethod of developing doctrine, the

method of biblical theology — al-though he did not give it thatname. His method was the studyof Scripture from the beginning tothe end, book by book, taking eachbook individually and separately,developing the theology in eachbook or each part of a book, andthen moving on to the next sectionof Scripture.

He was convinced that thisway of doing theology was far tobe preferred. It dealt honestly witheach text and explained it in itsown historical setting. It was faith-ful to the character of revelation;God, so Cocceius was fond ofpointing out, did not reveal Him-self in giving to the church a Re-formed dogmatics, but God madeHimself known in and through his-tory by means of a continual flowof revelation, which gradually de-veloped through time until it wasall fulfilled in Christ. God addedto, further explained, enriched bynew revelations, the one great truthof salvation in Christ. Cocceius’historical approach did justice tothat obvious fact of Scripture.

At the same time, because theemphasis fell on God’s revelationin and through history, proper em-phasis could also be placed on god-liness and piety as the truths ofScripture were interwoven with thelives of saints and sinners andGod’s dealings with them.

It was this approach, for all itsvalue, that made Cocceius a cov-enant theologian. Cocceius saw, inhis study of the gradual develop-ment of God’s promise throughoutthe old dispensation, that the cov-enant stood out in bold relief andwas, in fact, the unifying truth inthe whole of God’s revelation.2 Al-though Cocceius retained someideas of the covenant which werenot biblical, though current ideasat that time, he also saw the cov-enant of grace as more than a two-sided agreement between God andman: he understood that the cov-enant was also a bond of friend-ship between God and His people.3

Cocceius’ MistakesBut the approach to the doc-

trine of Scripture that Cocceiustook led him to serious mistakes.

Cocceius is considered the fa-ther of dispensationalism. Cer-tainly, he did not develop dispen-sationalism in the way and to theextent that it is developed today indispensational premillennialism.But Cocceius, by his approach toScripture, tended to separate theOld Testament from the New. Thisseparation between the two testa-ments is fatal for correct Bibleteaching.

One can understand how itgoes. If a given passage in Scrip-ture must be interpreted in its im-mediate, but also in its broader,context, the Old Testament pas-sages must be interpreted as such,and any correct interpretation musttake into account that Christ hadnot yet come, that the Spirit hadnot yet been poured out, and thatthe church lived in the “dark ages”of types and shadows. From sucha view emerges the idea that twodifferent dispensations result intwo different ways in which Goddeals with His people. That kindof separation between the Old andthe New is the cornerstone onwhich all Baptistic thinking is built.

Cocceius applied this distinc-tion between the two dispensationsin another way: the moral law ofGod in general, and Sabbath ob-servance in particular. With con-sistency Cocceius said that thefourth commandment was fulfilledin the work of Christ. Therefore,it no longer applied to the new dis-pensation. In our age, no singleday ought to be set aside as theChristian Sabbath; it is not neces-sary to make Sunday a day in

1. Herman Hanko, Portraits of Faith-ful Saints (Grand Rapids, MI: RFPA,1999) chapters 45, 46.

2. Cocceius’ approach was some-thing like the new series on the OldTestament that is being published bythe RFPA, Unfolding Covenant History.

3. Portrait of Faithful Saints, 338.


which the church observes thefourth commandment and meets indivine worship services. It may be,said Cocceius, wise and expedient,but not a requirement of the law.

There is an irony here.Cocceius lived in an age of somelooseness in Sabbath observance,and he himself, in spite of hisviews, kept the Sabbath holy. Histheology did not affect his life inthis respect. Nevertheless, hisviews had their effect, and the fruitof his views is seen today, evenamong “conservative” evangelicals,who desecrate the Sabbath onmuch the same grounds thatCocceius developed.

The Error of Biblical TheologyBiblical theology is much in

vogue today and is frequently thetheological method employed inseminaries. In some more extremecases, systematic theology isscorned and even accused of do-ing great harm to the truth.

There are plenty of books writ-ten about the view that, whileCalvin developed a theology thatwas more biblical and interwovenwith genuine piety, Theodore Beza4

spoiled all that and began a trendof developing theology systemati-cally. His practice was followed bysuch outstanding Reformed theolo-gians as the men at the Synod ofDordt, Francis Turretin, AbrahamKuyper, Herman Bavinck, andHerman Hoeksema. These are fre-

quently scornfully and mockinglycalled Scholastics. The name is em-ployed to designate these men asbeing of the same ilk as the RomanCatholic Scholastics in Medievaltimes who prided themselves inpicking apart the truth, discussingsuch abstract questions as, “Howmany angels can dance on the pointof a pin,” and rationally analyzingand dissecting truths in a coldly in-tellectual way.

Is biblical theology the desir-able thing it is said to be?

We cannot argue with the im-portant method of Bible interpre-tation that requires that every textof the Bible be explained in its ownhistorical context. This principleof interpretation is indeed rootedin the truth that Scripture is the in-fallibly inspired record to God’srevelation, in and through history,of Himself as the God who sover-eignly saves His church in JesusChrist His own Son. Never maythat truth be violated.

I well recall how I frequentlywas comforted in my early minis-try after I preached on some OldTestament saint. After such a ser-vice, one saint would admonish menot to ascribe too much knowledgeof the truth to those who lived inthe dispensation of shadows:“Rev., they didn’t have the Spirityet, you know.” But soon anotherwould approach me with a look ofsome concern on his face to tell me:“Rev., you do not give sufficient

credit to those saints in the OldTestament. They believed a wholelot more than you realize.” As longas both talked to me about it, I con-cluded I had things about right.

Nor may we dispute the factthat Scripture is vitally interestedin godliness and genuine piety.Who could ever deny that? And itis also true that true piety arisesout of doctrine. The two are in-separable. True doctrine dealswith piety, and piety pleasing toGod is confession in word and lifeof sound doctrine.

But theology is one thing andpreaching is another. The churchneeds both. The preaching, eventhe systematic preaching, of doc-trine has to be woven through withthe golden threads of godliness —or it is simply not preaching. And,although a solid textbook on Re-formed dogmatics will not ordi-narily incorporate into itself bibli-cal ethics, there is no reason whyit ought not do this; and in theteaching of “Systematics” a faith-ful professor can and must pointthe way to preaching godlinessfrom doctrine. But a Dogmatics isnot a book on Ethics, any more thana book on Ethics is a Dogmatics.Both are needed; and the blendingof both into a whole is the busi-ness of the whole church.

… to be concluded.

4. Calvin’s co-worker and successorin the Academy of Geneva.

In His Fear Rev. Daniel Kleyn

Adorning Sound Doctrineoctrine and life are closelyrelated to each other. Theyare not, as some claim, op-

posites. They are inseparable.Because of this close relation-

Rev. Kleyn is pastor of First ProtestantReformed Church in Edgerton, Minnesota.

is believed and preached, the re-sult will be departure in the life ofthe congregation. The worship, thesacraments, and discipline of thechurch will soon be corrupted. Ev-ery man will do what is right inhis own eyes.

We can also turn this around.Not only does doctrine affect life,

ship, doctrine affects life. Whatone believes determines how helives. If he errs in doctrine, he willalso err in life. If he believes thelie, his life will not be in confor-mity with God’s commands.

This can also happen in thechurch. If a congregation departsfrom the truth and false doctrine

D


but life affects doctrine. Wheneverone persists in a life that is con-trary to the Word of God, he willinevitably alter and deny the truthsof God’s Word. For the sake of anungodly and worldly life, he willcorrupt and forsake the truth, forthat truth condemns his wickedlife.

Again, this can also take placein the church. If a church haswithin it those who continue to livein sin, and if the church is of amind to allow that to continue (byfailing to exercise Christian disci-pline), this will inevitably affect thetruth that is confessed. The truththat forms the basis of godly liv-ing will not be preached, for to doso might cause offense and mightturn members away.

✦✦✦ ✦✦✦ ✦✦✦

The fact that doctrine and lifeare inseparable is pointed out bythe apostle Paul in Titus 2:1. Inthis verse, Paul is telling Titus whathe, as a minister of the gospel, mustpreach. Paul’s instruction is this:“But speak thou the things that be-come sound doctrine.”

To preach the things that “be-come” sound doctrine means aminister is to preach things that“befit” or that “match” sound doc-trine. He is to teach the people ofGod concerning lives that are “inharmony with” the doctrines andtruths of Scripture.

It is clear, therefore, that sounddoctrine is the basis of godly liv-ing. A godly and sanctified lifeflows out of the truth. For ex-ample, the doctrine of the total de-pravity of man has, by God’s grace,the result (among other things) ofa life of humility in which the childof God knows and confesses andrepents daily of his sinfulness andsin. And an effect of the truth ofthe covenant is, by the grace ofGod, that parents give godly in-struction to their children, bothwithin their homes and through es-tablishing and using Christianschools. A godly life that is con-sistent with the truth is therefore a

life that adorns the sound doctrinesof God’s Word.

The fact that godly living fol-lows from sound doctrine clearlyimplies that what must come firstin the preaching is sound doctrine.That stands to reason, for how canone teach the things that befitsound doctrine if he does not firstof all teach sound doctrine itself?Practice that is not grounded in thetruth will lead people astray.Therefore, sound doctrine must bepreached.

Sound doctrine is, literally,doctrine that is wholesome andhealthy. What makes a sermon sois that it is, from beginning to end,the true Word of God. The minis-ter of the Word may not be “teach-ing for doctrines the command-ments of men” (Matt. 15:9). Hemay not teach weak or watered-down doctrines. He may not standbefore the congregation in order toset forth the ideas and opinions andphilosophies of men. Rather, thepreaching must contain the solidtruths of God’s Word. Everythingthat is spoken must be firmlygrounded in the Scriptures. It is amatter of being able to say, “Thussaith the Lord!”

The importance of sound doc-trine needs to be underscored. Doc-trinal preaching is not popular to-day. Many dislike and criticize it.They say it is too difficult to followand grasp. They claim the doctrinesare too deep to understand. Andthey argue: “What good does it dome? What usefulness does it havefor my life?” Instead, they want“practical” preaching. And whatthey mean by that is the applica-tion of God’s Word to their livesapart from the doctrinal basis forthat application. They simply want“How to...” sermons.

A minister can be tempted tocater to this wish of the people. Heis tempted to do so in order to keepthe people happy — to try to pleasethe pew. He is also tempted to doso because he sees many weak-nesses and sins in the lives of God’speople and thinks the solution to

this is “practical” preaching. Andhe is tempted because it is hardwork and takes great effort to makesermons that are doctrinal — ser-mons in which the truths of God’sWord are clearly explained andthen also properly applied to thelives of God’s people.

Yet a minister of the gospelmust not give in to these tempta-tions. The Word of God statesclearly that he is to preach sounddoctrine. That is God’s command.That is what preaching must be.And that is what God’s peopleneed to hear in order to be led tolive in a way that is pleasing toGod. Sound doctrine is the surebasis of godly living.

✦✦✦ ✦✦✦ ✦✦✦

But sound doctrine is not onlynecessary because it is the basis forproper living – it is also necessaryand significant because it is themotive for such living. That is,sound doctrine not only teachesGod’s people how to live properly,but also serves as the incentive forthem to do so.

The child of God is called tolive a life of gratitude. He is to bethankful for God’s grace to him inJesus Christ. In gratitude, he is tolive a life of obedience to God, alife in which he loves God with allhis heart and mind and strength,and his neighbor as himself.

However, God does not simplycommand us to do this, but in Hismercy He also gives us motivationto do so. Sound doctrine is thatmotivation.

This is because of what sounddoctrine is. At the heart of allsound doctrine is the gospel. Atthe heart of all faithful preachingof doctrine is the truth of God’sgracious salvation in Jesus Christ.Sound doctrine is the truth thatGod loves and saves unworthy sin-ners. Sound doctrine is the truththat God is absolutely sovereign inthis work of salvation — He doesit all.

The believer who knows thatGod has graciously saved him, an


Go Ye Into All the World Rev. Jason Kortering

Rev. Kortering is a minister emeritus inthe Protestant Reformed Churches.

unworthy and wretched sinner,and has saved him completely, can-not be anything but thankful toGod. The sound doctrines of thegospel motivate and compel him tobe obedient. His heart and life arecharacterized by grateful obedienceto God. The sound truths of God’ssovereign grace cause him to adornthe doctrines with a godly life.

If someone does not know or be-lieve sound doctrine, he will not livea thankful and obedient life. Really,he cannot, for he does not know thegreat grace of God. He cannot bethankful, for he does not know whatto be thankful for. He does not havea reason or motive for obedience. Hewill conclude that he can live as hepleases. And if he does happen tostrive to obey God, the fact that heholds to false doctrine means his life

is not properly motivated. He willmost likely be living this way in or-der to try to earn God’s favor. Sucha life, though outwardly good, willnot be one of true gratitude and obe-dience to God.

✦✦✦ ✦✦✦ ✦✦✦

Sound doctrine is necessary,therefore, as both the basis of andmotivation for godly living. Itserves, by the work of the Spirit,to lead the saved child of God in alife that adorns that sound doc-trine.

The Scriptures give specificcommands concerning that life.We read of those specifics in theremaining verses of Titus 2. In thatpassage, each believer in thechurch is addressed. No one is ig-nored or overlooked. In unam-

biguous language the Word of Godmakes it very clear what is ex-pected of each of us — of agedmen, of aged women, of youngwomen, of young men, and of ser-vants. Be sure to read Titus 2:2-6!It states very clearly what befitssound doctrine.

When we disobey this Word ofGod and fail to do what we arecommanded in Titus 2, our liveswill be a contradiction of what wesay we believe and confess.

However, when by the grace ofGod we are faithful to these admo-nitions, our lives will be in har-mony with the truths of God’sWord. Then, and only then, areour lives pleasing to God. Then,and only then, are we adorningsound doctrine by the way we live.

Evangelism in the Established Church (2)

The Role of Every Believerin Evangelism

n the previous article of thisseries (see September 1, 2004,p. 472), we set forth that the

work of evangelism in the localchurch must involve every mem-ber of the congregation. No mat-ter what project is undertaken, beit door-to-door evangelism, radioministry, sponsoring local lec-tures, or whatever, it requires theactive involvement of every mem-ber to accomplish its stated goal.In this article we want to developa bit more why this is not onlynecessary, but also proper, andwhy it is to be expected by those

who are working hard in thisevangelism.

I address this question to ev-ery reader: Are you actively in-volved in outreach yourself and notjust passing this work off to yourpastor, the Evangelism Committeein your local church, or even toother members? The burden of thisarticle is to show from the Biblethat God has saved you to evange-lize and that the leaders of thechurch want you to be busy inevangelism and expect it of you.This is God’s way.

John Sittema, in an article inthe Outlook of October 2003, raisedthe question why it is that in thepast both Presbyterian and Re-formed churches were zealous in

outreach and missions, but nowseem to have lost the passion forthe lost. He writes, “Local evan-gelism is almost nonexistent. Sadlya correlative attitude seems to beacceptable and popular among Cal-vinists these days: people getsaved in Baptist or other funda-mentalistic churches and then theylearn good theology and becomeCalvinists. If it weren’t so arro-gant it might be funny. Fact is thatnot many ‘get saved’ through evan-gelism effort of Calvinisticchurches in today’s Christianworld. And that’s a shame.”

If we are honest with ourselves,we must admit that we fall underthis criticism as well. We can sayso easily that the church is being

I


gathered from all nations underheaven and when that is complete,and we are very close to thatcompletion, Christ will return. Dowe realize what little effort is be-ing put forth from Reformedchurches, including ourselves, todo this work? Just consider Indiaas an example and discover howlittle effort is put forth among thosebillion plus people. It is so small,it is mind-boggling. The same istrue for Africa, including Ghana. Iask you, are we really doing all wecan as churches in our missionwork? We are doing something inmission work, and we in no waywant to belittle that, it is cause forthanksgiving to God. Could we domore? If you really believe wecould do more, then I also ask, whyare we not doing it?

Mission zeal has something todo with it. I ask myself, what doesit take to generate more zeal formissionary work and evangelismamong our members? This oughtto be the burden of every memberof our churches. It is not honestsimply to say, “We have zeal.” It isnot enough to say, “To generate zealis the concern of consistories in thelocal church.” Yes, they have theirresponsibility to promote missions.I am convinced that the real issueis spiritual and lies in the heart ofevery one of us. Every membermust accept it as his calling to evan-gelize, and when we get thisstraight, we will discover underGod’s blessing that our churcheswill become truly more missionminded. I share the burden whichG. Van Dooren expressed for hischurches in the book Get Out andGet Rid of Dilemmas,

Better a local congregation with noevangelistic organization whatso-ever but fully alive “in the Lord,”than a place with much noise ofcommittees and sub-committeesand all the works, but no life ofthe Spirit and no love for theneighbor.

God emphasizes that everysaved person must speak of the won-

derful works of God to everyone! Aconverted soul has within him aburning desire to praise and extolthe name of the God who saved him.This is obviously true for new con-verts in the mission field, but itought to be just as true for one savedwithin God’s covenant. The Biblesays in I Peter 2:4-10,

Ye also as lively stones are builtup a spiritual house, an holypriesthood, to offer up spiritualsacrifices, acceptable to God byJesus Christ…. Ye are a chosengeneration, a royal priesthood, anholy nation, a peculiar people; thatye should shew forth the praises ofhim who hath called you out ofdarkness into his marvelous light.

The word “to shew forth” is “todeclare, to make known” thepraises, virtues, and wonders ofGod. This is not limited to minis-ters, elders, and deacons; it is thetask of every stone in the livinghouse of God. The purpose of oursalvation is to declare to everyonewho crosses our pathway, ourneighbor, that God is sovereign, Heis great and greatly to be praised.

This is so rudimentary that Ineed not belabor the point. Theshepherds led the way, for afterhaving beheld by faith the wonderof the incarnation, they rejoiced intheir salvation, and declared themessage of the gospel to all .“When they had seen it, they madeknown abroad the saying whichwas told them concerning thischild. And all they that heard itwondered at those things whichwere told them by the shepherds”(Luke 2:17, 18). This is the irre-pressible joy of heart that motivatesevery Christian to share the gospelwith his neighbor. He cannot butspeak to his precious covenantchild at home. No less can he besilent before the coarse sinner withwhom he works on the job.

The motive is obvious; it islove, pure love. Jesus illustratedthis with His reference to the for-given debtors in Luke 7:40-50.Why did the forgiven debtor find

it easy to forgive his debtors? Jesusput it this way: when one is for-given a great debt, he finds it easyto forgive someone who owes hima little. In the narrative, Jesus men-tioned how Simon criticized Jesus’evangelistic work with the localprostitute because he did not knowhis own forgiveness of sins. If wetruly know the horror of our sinsand the depth of God’s love towash them away in the blood ofJesus, relief and joy motivate us towant others to enjoy this. Themark of a true Christian convert ishis eagerness to see others savedeven as he is saved.

It is the task of the ministry ofthe gospel and the teaching minis-try of the local church to promotethis activity in every member. Iagree with Van Dooren when hewrites in Get Out,

Assuming that consistories have to“appoint” committees, let themnever instruct those committees,“to promote evangelism amongthe membership.” That shouldnever be the task of a committeewhich is only to give a helpinghand to “God’s own people,” the“promotion” has to be done by theofficebearers themselves, whohave to equip the saints for thework of ministry, and are not al-lowed to “delegate” this Christ-given mandate to others (cf. Eph.4:11ff.).

Every pastor has the commissionfrom Christ so to conduct himselfin his ministry and by example thathe motivates every member toevangelize. In this way the con-gregation understands this to betheir duty and that they ought toexercise it faithfully to the glory ofGod. Such instruction is part ofthe gospel, written in the HolyBible. If we preach the wholecounsel of God, it will include in-struction in this labor.

The reference Van Doorenmakes is to Ephesians 4:11-14.There Paul instructs the Ephesianchurch leaders concerning theirwork. “And he gave some apostles,


and some prophets, and some evan-gelists; and some pastors and teach-ers for the perfecting of the saints,for the work of ministry, for the edi-fying of the body of Christ.” I havementioned before, that we have amisplaced comma here. It ought toread that the work of pastors andteachers is for the perfecting of thesaints for the work of ministry. Theministry (service to others) is thatdone by the saints. The pastors andelders have the commission to equipthe members so that they mature(perfecting) and are thus qualifiedto be active in service, ministry,which in turn edifies the body ofChrist. This ministry includes at-tending to the needs of fellow mem-bers, assisting in training childrenof the covenant, helping the poorin the midst of the congregation,visiting the lonely, and doing thework of evangelism by sharing thegospel with others and therebybringing others into the fellowshipof the congregation.

In summary we say, when Godworks salvation in the heart of Hischild, love excels. God’s love to usis so precious that we respond toHim in love. This love is the effectof the law written on the tables ofour hearts. That law has two parts.It is, first of all, to love God with allour heart, soul, mind, and strength.With God’s love in our hearts weworship, honor, and obey Him inlove. The law also has a secondpart, to love our neighbor as our-selves. To fellow believers, this loveis demonstrated in the communionof the saints. To neighbors who stillare lost in sin, our love to them isexpressed in our desire and effortto lead them to salvation.

The effectiveness of the gospelis seen in the life and practice of themembers. The marks of the truechurch become the marks of trueChristians as spelled out in BelgicConfession Article 29. In the earlierpart of the article the well-knownmarks of the true church are men-tioned: pure doctrine of the gospelis preached, the sacraments are ad-ministered properly, and church dis-

cipline is exercised in punishing sin.Then immediately follows the marksof the true Christian:

With respect to those who aremembers of the church, they maybe known by the marks of Chris-tians, namely, by faith; and whenthey have received Jesus Christthe only Savior, they avoid sin,follow after righteousness, lovethe true God and their neighbor,neither turn aside to the right orleft, and crucify the flesh with theworks thereof.

This is expected of every Chris-tian because God anoints everytrue believer by His Holy Spirit toserve Him in the church or king-dom of heaven. Every true believeris equipped to be an officebearerin the covenant, a prophet, priest,and king in the service of God.

The Heidelberg Catechism de-scribes this work in Lord’s Day 12:

Why art thou called a Christian?A. Because I am a member ofChrist by faith, and thus am par-taker of His anointing; that so Imay confess His name, andpresent myself a living sacrifice ofthankfulness to Him; and also thatwith a free and good conscience Imay fight against sin and Satanin this life, and afterwards reignwith Him eternally over all crea-tures.

As an anointed prophet, everyChristian has the calling and abil-ity to “confess His name.” This hasmany aspects to it. We think ofpublic confession of faith; confess-ing His name in the instruction ofcovenant children; and no less im-portantly, confessing His name tothe neighbor, whether Christian ornon-Christian. We cannot separatethe prophetic office (speech) fromthe priestly and kingly office (ac-tion). Thus the Bible uses the word“conversation,” which includesboth speech and action. Later theHeidelberg Catechism, in Lord’sDay 32, mentions that by our godlyconversation, we may be able “togain others to Christ.”

Witnessing, or the work ofevangelism by the members of thechurch, consists of more than in-viting others to come to church.Hearing the preaching of the gos-pel is the goal of all evangelism.This is necessary because of the keyrole that Christ has assigned to thepreaching of the gospel (Rom.10:11-15). We may speak of thewitnessing of the members as thesharing of the gospel or evangelismbecause it is in the service of thegospel that they work. Their bur-den is the salvation of the lost, andthis includes bringing them underthe preaching of the gospel. To ac-complish this, members must real-ize that for a non-Christian to comeunder the preaching of the gospelrequires our explaining to themwhat it means to be a Christian,telling them why the gospel is soprecious to us, familiarizing themwith the Bible, and such things.This is part of our prophetic office,which God may be pleased to useto prepare the heart of one to comeunder the preaching of the Word.

The benefits of this for the con-gregation are beyond measure.

True, wrongly motivated andcareless methods contribute to thechurch’s fear of such activity.There are many “objections” thathave been and are being raisedagainst this activity. We will be-gin to address some of them in ournext article, the Lord willing.

But we would be remiss in ourresponsibility to address this sub-ject if we did not end on a positiveand beautiful note.

Active witnessing on the part ofthe individual believer contributesin a marvelous way to his own spiri-tual maturity. Yes, it includes get-ting sharpened in apologetics, inwhat to say to those who argueagainst the gospel and how to givea Christian response to those whoderide and mock the gospel. It ismuch more than that, it relates tothe growth of his personal faith.When we witness to others, we haveto “walk the talk.” Careless livingand evangelism are incompatible.


News From Our Churches Mr. Benjamin Wigger

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

We have to know the truth if weare to teach others. We learnquickly that we have to be patientwith the spiritual growth of others.We must not be careless in judgingand condemning if our goal is togain for Christ. In summary, welearn that God saves whom Hewills, in the way He wills, and inthe time of His own choosing.Nothing quickens the heart morethan to be an instrument in thehands of God to lead a lost soul tothe Savior. We cannot help butpraise God when we see His workof salvation before our very owneyes. At the same time, we learnthat we cannot save a soul, it is allof God and all of grace, thus prayer

takes on more meaning when weknow that the eternal destiny of thesouls of those with whom we speakare in God’s hands. That is hum-bling, and that is a good virtue forevery Christian.

The church is blessed by suchactivity. When members of thecongregation are involved in per-sonal evangelism, they take an in-terest in all the mission work of ourchurches. We appreciate the diffi-culties involved and are patientand prayerful because we experi-ence it in our own efforts. We wantto learn more of what God is do-ing in the various fields of labor sothat we can pray fervently for theHoly Spirit’s presence. Even

though we live in serous times, thelast days, we are not overcome ingloom or defeat by the apostasywithin the churches or by the op-position from the world about us.Rather, we remain positive becausewe are doing the work of our Lordas He has commissioned us to dountil He returns. We do not knowthe day and the hour of His return,so we work fervently and withgreat hope. His promise is to bewith us until the end. The evidenceof this is given to us when we rec-ognize His blessings within thecongregation and in our evangelis-tic efforts. This draws us togetherand makes us joyful and thankfulin Him.

September 8, 2004First PRC, Holland, MI

Classis East met in regular ses- sion on Wednesday, Septem-

ber 8, 2004. All the churches wererepresented by two delegates. Rev.J. Laning was the chairman for thesession.

Classis was busy with two is-sues: 1) the report of the studycommittee appointed by the MayClassis to bring advice concerningthe overture to Synod 2005 onnewer, vernacular Bible transla-tions; and 2) the appeal from a

brother concerning statementsmade in a sermon by his pastor.

With regard to the overture tosynod requesting that synod ap-point a study committee regardingnewer, vernacular translations,Classis decided to refer this matterback to its committee for reformu-lation of its grounds.

With regard to the appeal ofthe brother’s charge against hispastor, Classis rejected his appealand upheld the position of hisconsistory defending the state-ments made by their pastor.

Classis granted classical ap-

pointments to Faith and Hudson-ville. Classis West requested helpin supplying the pulpits of Bethel,Doon, and Edmonton. Classis de-cided to grant this request andscheduled as many appointmentsas possible to aid Classis West andthese churches.

Expenses for this classisamounted to $1,808.93. The nextmeeting of classis will be onWednesday, January 12, 2005 at theSoutheast PRC.

Respectfully submitted,Jon J. Huisken,

Stated Clerk

Report of Classis East

Evangelism Activities

In a follow-up to the Mouw/ Engelsma debate over common

grace, the Evangelism Committeeof the Grandville, MI PRC spon-sored a lecture given by Prof. D.Engelsma at Grace CommunityChurch in Hudsonville, MI on Fri-

day evening, October 8. Prof.Engelsma spoke on ”The ReformedWorld View on Behalf of a GodlyCulture.” Grandville not onlypromised to make one considerwhat their world view was, butthey also promised to answer thequestion, “Does the Reformed gos-pel of sovereign grace have a worldview, and was Dr. Richard Mouw’scharge that the Protestant Re-formed people are not activeenough in society true?”

Members of the Loveland, COPRC were encouraged to invitefamily and friends to a lecture Fri-day night, October 15, in theirchurch auditorium. Rev. G. Eriks,pastor at Loveland, spoke on thetimely subject “Christian Living inan Age of Tolerance.” In thisspeech Rev. Eriks demonstratedhow the worldly concept of toler-ance is antichristian and a tool ofSatan to attack the church.


P.O. Box 603Grandville, MI 49468-0603

Announcements

PERIODICALPostage Paid atGrandville,Michigan

Sister Church Activities

Rev. A. denHartog, our denomination’s minister-on-loan

to the Evangelical ReformedChurches of Singapore, left Friday,October 8, for a month of work inMyanmar. He planned on beingthere alone for most of the month,and was busy in teaching a semi-nar. About 40 men, ministers andelders from the Reformed Churchesin Myanmar, planned to be in at-tendance, the Lord willing. At themorning sessions Rev. denHartogwas to give instruction in Essen-tials of Reformed Doctrine, using aChin translation of our very owncatechism book. At the afternoonsessions he planned on workingwith the men to help them makeReformed and expository sermons.This was by the request of the menthemselves. Rev. denHartog hopedto be in Myanmar until at least No-vember 1. After the seminar, heplanned to travel with PastorDaniel, a graduate of the ARTSprogram in Singapore, to his hometown of Mandalay, which is thesecond largest city in Myanmarand has a population of over threemillion.

Congregation Activities

Sunday morning, October 10, Rev. C. Haak was installed as

the second pastor in the ten-yearhistory of Georgetown PRC inHudsonville, MI. Rev. R. VanOverloop, Georgetown’s formerpastor, led the installation service,preaching from I Kings 22:14 underthe theme, “What Jesus Says to Me,That Will I Speak.” Also partici-pating in the service was Rev. B.Woudenberg, leading the congrega-tional prayer, and Prof. R. Decker,reading the installation form.

That evening Rev. Haak

was invited to speak for the IndianChristian Fellowship on October 9,and for the Reformed PresbyterianSeminary on October 13.

The council of Southwest PRCin Grandville, MI, the callingchurch for Pittsburgh, sent two el-ders, Mr. Dan Schipper and Mr.Henry Kamps, and two deacons,Mr. Todd Groenendyk and Mr. LesKamps, to visit the field October15-18. They planned to meet withthe missionary and his family, aswell as with the Steering Commit-tee. They also were available forpastoral and diaconal visits as nec-essary. They worshiped with theFellowship on Sunday, before re-turning home early the next week.

We could also pass along to ourreaders that Pittsburgh now has anew web site and e-mail address.Their web address is prcpitts-burgh.org and their new e-mail ad-dress is prcpittsburgh @yahoo.com.

Minister Activities

Rev. A. Brummel declined the call extended to him to serve

as the next pastor of First PRC inEdmonton, AB, Canada.

Rev. J. Slopsema declined thecall he had been considering toserve as pastor of the Doon, IAPRC.

RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHYThe Men’s and Ladies’ Society of

the First PRC of Holland expressChristian sympathy to member HenryLubbers in the passing of his wife,

MRS. GLADYS LUBBERS.May we say the words found in IICorinthians 1:3, “Blessed be God,even the Father of our Lord JesusChrist, the Father of mercies, and theGod of all comfort.”

Rich Moore, Pres.Francine Leep, Sec’y.

preached his first sermon asGeorgetown’s pastor, using IICorinthians 12:14, 15a as his Scrip-ture basis under the theme, “I SeekNot Yours, but You.” Immediatelyfollowing the evening worship ser-vice there was a brief welcome heldfor Rev. Haak, his wife, Mary, anddaughter Melanie.

Members of the Lynden, WAPRC were encouraged to join to-gether on Monday, October 18, fora painting/cleaning day at theirchurch. If you wanted to clean, youwere encouraged to bring bucketsand rags. If you felt more comfort-able painting, you were urged tobring your favorite paint trays, roll-ers, and brushes. Paint and clean-ing solution was provided.

An evening of thanksgivingwas planned for Sunday evening,October 10, at the Peace PRC inLansing, IL for the commemorationof their pastor’s (Rev. S. Houck’s)25 years of service as a minister inour denomination.

The council of the South Hol-land, IL PRC informed their con-gregation that the purchase of theirnew church property was finalizedon September 24. The propertypurchased was 19.5 acres.

The ladies of the Edgerton, MNPRC hosted this fall’s CombinedLadies’ Society meeting with theladies from the Doon and Hull, IAPRC’s on October 12. Rev. D.Kleyn, pastor at Edgerton, spoke onthe topic, “The Christian Citizen.”

Fathers and sons of theGeorgetown PRC in Hudsonville, MIwere encouraged to participate in afather/son outing on the ice of theGeorgetown Ice Arena, October 15.

Mission Activities

Rev. J. Mahtani, our churches’ missionary to Pittsburgh, PA,

Creation’s Song of Joy...76/Standard Bearer/November 15, 2004 The Standard Bearer: Past (concl.)...

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