Vol. 80; No. 12; March 15, 2004
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Meditation:
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Rev.
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The Cast Down Soul
Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I
shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
Psalm 42:5
Psalm 42 was written by the sons
of Korah. They were a guild of singers from
the tribe of Levi that sang at the Temple as the people of God gathered for worship. They wrote as one man. Throughout this Psalm, therefore, they wrote in
the singular. And so we will speak of the
psalmist (singular).
This Psalm was written in
connection with the flight of David from Absalom into the wilderness of Jordan. The psalmist experienced the same terrible plight
as did David.
The theme of this Psalm is
“longing for God.” In the exile of
the wilderness the psalmist was far from the house of God in Jerusalem. He longed to return to the house and presence of
his God.
Due to the difficult
circumstances that he faced, the psalmist was cast down and disquieted. How easily this happens. The psalmist confronted himself. He rebuked himself with a question, Why art thou
cast down? He turned his attention to the
help of God’s countenance that would surely come.
On that basis, he counseled himself to hope in God.
We must do the same in times of discouragement.
A horrible reality.
The psalmist’s soul was
cast down and disquieted within him. One who
is cast down is bowed down. He walks in a
stooped manner, giving out sighs and groans because he is dejected. This goes along with being disquieted. To be disquieted is to be in turmoil. All peace and quiet have been disrupted. This described the psalmist. There was no peace or quiet within his soul. His mind was in turmoil. He knew only grief and sorrow. He walked about bowed down, sighing and moaning. Tears had been his food day and night.
That which brought about this
downcast state was the situation the psalmist faced.
He had accompanied David and his small following into the wilderness of Jordan as
they fled from Absalom. David’s exile
was God’s judgment on David for his sin with Bathsheba. God had said that the sword would never depart
from David’s house. Absalom’s
rebellion was just one of many horrible incidents. David’s
exile was God’s judgment, not only upon David, but in a real sense upon all those who
stood with David. And so God seemed far from
them. It appeared to the psalmist that God
had forgotten him (v. 9). Those who witnessed
David and his band concluded that their God was strangely absent (v. 3). The psalmist panted after God, even as a thirsty
deer would stagger in the wilderness, panting after the water brooks (v. 1).
Small wonder the psalmist was
cast down and disquieted.
The psalmist’s experience
is not unique.
We find many similar examples in
Scripture. It was in the belly of the fish
that Jonah cried out, “I am cast out of thy sight” (Jonah 2:4). David himself felt cast away from God’s
presence after his sin with Bathsheba (Ps. 51:11). Even
our Lord Jesus Christ cried out on the cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me?” (Matt. 27:46).
This is also our experience from
time to time. We too can feel that God has
forsaken us, cast us off, and no longer cares for us.
Affliction is often our companion in life. Sometimes
affliction comes in the form of a debilitating illness.
Sometimes God takes a loved one away and leaves us alone. Sometimes there is a family member that causes us
untold grief. Or it may be that we are
opposed for Christ’s sake. Many are the
afflictions of life. As we struggle with the
pain of affliction, God often seems to have forsaken us and cast us off. Especially is this the case should our affliction
be an obvious judgment of God for some sin or fault in our life.
Then do we become downcast and
disquieted.
Hope in God.
The psalmist counseled himself. He asked his soul, “Why art thou cast
down?” There is a note of rebuke here. His cast down soul was not in keeping with
reality. The psalmist then focused his
attention on the help of God’s countenance and counseled his soul to hope in God.
Hope is an earnest expectation
and longing for some future good. Hope has
several elements. Hope is an earnest
expectation for some future good. Yes, there
is affliction for the present. But this will
not continue forever. Good things await us in
the future. Hope lives in daily expectation
of this future good. Hope is also a longing
for this future good. Contrary to our usage
of the word, hope is also a certainty of this future good.
Those who live in hope do not live in doubt but in confidence. Finally, hope is a patient waiting for deliverance
and the coming of a better tomorrow.
The psalmist instructed his soul
to hope. When there is hope, then one’s
soul is not cast down. One is cast down and
disquieted within only when he has lost hope. And
so the psalmist instructed his soul to hope, to live in the expectation of better things
to come. We must do the same. As you face affliction, make sure that you live in
hope.
The psalmist could live in hope
because of the help of God’s countenance. His
hope was in God. Without this help of
God’s countenance there is no hope, only false hope.
One’s countenance is
one’s face. The help of one’s
countenance is the help provided by one whose face is turned to you and whose loving,
caring eyes are watching your every move. Think
of a parent who watches his little child with loving eyes.
His child may not even be aware of it, but his parent’s eyes are never
diverted from him. These loving eyes bring
help to provide for every need the child has and to keep him in safety.
In like manner can we speak of
the help of God’s countenance.
God has His face turned towards
His people. They may not know it. The circumstances of life may even seem to
contradict it. But the truth is that His eyes
are always upon His people, watching them, loving them, and caring for them.
Because His face is turned
towards them, He is always present to help them.
His face was turned toward them
when they fell in Adam in the garden. In love
He sent His only begotten Son into the world as their Mediator to save them from their
sins. How wonderful and powerful is the help
of God’s countenance!
The help of God’s
countenance is also present when it comes to affliction.
Sometimes God helps us by
keeping us from affliction. One way the
powers of darkness would destroy us is to afflict us with evil. Satan thought that by touching Job with evil he
could get Job to curse God and die. Satan
would do the same with us. We do not fully
realize just how much evil is averted from our lives by the help of God’s countenance
that limits the power of Satan to hurt us.
But sometimes God does send evil
into our lives. And when He does, we often
ask, Why? Sometimes this evil is to correct
us. Let’s be humble enough to
acknowledge that every child of God is in need of correction. This correction often comes in the form of
affliction. Then again, God sends evil into
our lives simply for the sake of maturing our faith.
By maturing our faith, God causes us to live closer to Him. By the maturing of our faith God also prepares us
for greater service in the future.
Because this is the nature of
affliction, we may be assured of the help of God’s countenance. Always God’s face is turned towards us in
affliction. The eyes of God are full of love
and compassion. He will indeed help in time
of need. He will preserve us in the midst of
our affliction. He will one day deliver us
from our affliction and will even turn it to our profit.
This gives the child of God hope
for the future.
Hope in God! Look in hope for the help of His countenance. Be assured in hope that affliction is only for a
time. Great good awaits us, even through
affliction. This is the cure of the cast down
soul.
I will yet praise Him for the help
of His countenance.
Certainly praise is the
appropriate response for the help of God’s countenance.
This praise consists in pointing
out and extolling the blessings of God’s help. This
is to be done in prayer, in song, and in our confession to others.
The psalmist speaks of praising
God yet, i.e., yet again. In the past the
psalmist experienced the help of God’s countenance.
And for that help he had praised God. Now
the psalmist anticipated doing so again. Because
He lived in hope, he not only anticipated the help of God’s countenance but also
anticipated praising God for it.
Let us not overlook the fact
that the psalmist could live in hope in this present situation exactly because he had
praised God for the help of His countenance in the past.
Those who receive the help of God and fail to praise Him are those who overlook and
minimize that help. Neither are they
grateful. This has sad consequences for them
in the future. For affliction will come
again. Because they have overlooked and
minimized God’s help in the past, they will not be inclined to lay hold of the help
of God’s countenance for the present. They
suffer affliction without hope. Quickly they
are cast down and disquieted within.
Let us praise God for the help
of His countenance. How faithful God has been
to us.
And when affliction comes again,
as it surely will, counsel your soul to hope in God.
In hope look forward to praising
God yet again for the help of His countenance.
And the peace of God that passes
all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus
Editorial:
Prof.
David Engelsma.
Faith
Is
Assurance: Scripture
True faith is assurance of personal salvation. Because assurance is certainty—absolute
certainty (to be redundant)—true faith is certainty of one’s own salvation. It is certainty of deliverance from sin, death,
and hell. It is certainty of acceptance into
the fellowship of God, which is life eternal. Faith
is assurance of salvation by the blood and Spirit of Jesus Christ according to the
electing love of God in eternity.
True faith is assurance.
Assurance is not the fruit of
faith. Assurance is not the reward of faith. Assurance is not a branch or appendix of faith. Assurance is not a later, heroic, rather rare
development of faith, after many years of faith’s struggling with doubt and working
to attain to assurance.
Assurance is what faith is.
Assurance is of the very essence
of faith.
Strip faith of assurance (to
speak nonsense), and what is left is not faith. What
is left is unbelief.
Believers can sinfully doubt
their salvation. But this doubt is not
inherent in their faith. Doubt is not an
unfortunate aspect of the faith of most Christians for much of their lives. Doubt is not 75% of faith along with 25%
assurance, or even 1% of faith along with 99% assurance, until finally, for a few of
“God’s best and dearest friends,” faith becomes 100% (full) assurance. Doubt is not even an evil that faith placidly puts
up with day after day, year after year, generation after generation, as the normal way of
life of the believer.
Doubt of one’s own
salvation for a believer has its source in the Christian’s depraved, unbelieving
nature. The spiritual father and nourisher of
doubt is Satan. He created doubt in the
beginning: “Yea, hath God said?” Doubt is sin.
Undoubtedly, if we judge our sins rightly, as God judges them, the sin of doubting
our salvation is more heinous than adultery, or stealing, or murder, or the other gross
fleshly iniquities. What are these sins in
comparison with making God a liar in His promises to us, or in comparison with accounting
the suffering and death of the Son of God inadequate to redeem and forgive us?
Faith has nothing to do with
doubt, except to condemn it, fight it, and overcome it.
Biblical
Definition
Holy Scripture defines faith as
assurance of salvation in Hebrews 11:1: “Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The word translated “substance” in the
Authorized Version means “firm confidence,” or “assurance.” Luther correctly translated the word as “eine
gewisse Zuversicht,” that is, “a certain confidence.” Faith is assurance that the things the believer
hopes for, according to the promise of the gospel, are both real and for him personally. Similarly, faith is the “evidence,” that
is, the conviction, that the things not seen are realities for the believer. Since the things hoped for and the things not seen
are the things of salvation in Jesus Christ, faith is the assurance and conviction of
salvation.
Assurance of salvation is what
faith is.
That the apostle refers to the
believer’s assurance and conviction of his own personal salvation is put beyond doubt
by verse 2: “For by it the elders
obtained a good report.” By faith the
believer obtains a good report, obviously, about himself.
Certainty
in the “Union” Texts
All the innumerable passages in
Scripture that describe faith as union with Christ, so that the one who has faith is
“in Christ” and Christ is in the one who has faith, teach that faith is
assurance of belonging to Christ. Such a
passage is Ephesians 3:17: “That Christ
may dwell in your hearts by faith.” Faith
receives Christ in the heart of the believer. The
one in whom Christ dwells knows the love of Christ—knows the love of Christ for himself
(v. 19). Union with Christ, which is faith,
is certainty of this Christ. Union with
Christ—with Christ—cannot but be certainty of this Christ for oneself. Union with Christ is as much certainty that Christ
is one’s own as the marital union is a woman’s certainty that the man to whom
she is united is her husband. Who would teach
that a woman—a Christian woman—can be married to a man—a godly
man—but live in perpetual doubt whether he is her husband.
“Assurance
of Faith”
Several passages of Scripture
explicitly attribute assurance to faith. In
previous articles in this series, I have already quoted and explained Hebrews 10:22: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith.” “Full
assurance” in the translation of the Authorized Version is simply
“assurance,” which in the nature of the case is always “full.” This assurance of faith is not certainty that the
believer has faith. But it is the certainty
that belongs to faith, indeed, the certainty that is of faith’s essence. It is faith’s certainty that, washed with the
blood of Jesus, his own Savior, the believer may boldly draw near to God Himself as his
God. It is certainty of salvation.
“By the term full
assurance,” Calvin explains, “the Apostle points out the nature of faith,
and at the same time reminds us, that the grace of Christ cannot be received except by
those who possess a fixed and unhesitating conviction” (commentary on Heb. 10:22).
“I
am Persuaded”
The texts that characterize the
one who believes the gospel as certain of the love of God for him, certain of the death of
Christ for him, certain of the Spirit indwelling him, and certain of his future life and
glory are legion. They are glorious. How did the Puritans dare to deny that faith is
assurance? How do their spiritual heirs dare
to deny this today? On the lips and in the
heart of every one who believes the gospel of grace, every one who is “in Christ
Jesus” by faith (Rom. 8:1), the apostle puts these sublime words of assurance: “Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? … For I am persuaded that [nothing] … shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35-39).
By faith, every believer knows
with certainty the love of God in Christ for him. By
faith, every believer is persuaded that he will abide in this love forever.
This grand passage in its
context in Romans is by itself alone the utter refutation of the notion that assurance
does not belong to the essence of faith.
Justifying
Faith as Assurance
In a class by themselves, as
regards the question whether assurance is of the essence of faith, are the passages that
teach justification by faith. Faith
justifies. No one supposes that justification
is a much later development of faith, or a reward of faith, or an addition to faith, or an
appendix to faith. Justification is the
fundamental benefit of faith. So soon as one
believes, regardless that his faith is weak or strong, God justifies him by means of his
faith in Jesus Christ. But justification is
the forgiveness of sins, the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, the adoption unto
sonship, and the appointment as heir of the world in the consciousness of the justified
sinner. “I tell you,” said
Christ about the publican, “this man went down to his house justified” (Luke
18:14).
If one hears the verdict of God
in his consciousness, “I forgive your sins for the sake of Jesus Christ in whom you
trust,” he is certain that God is favorable to him, that Christ died for
him, and that he himself personally is saved.
Justification involves assurance of salvation.
Since justification is the fundamental benefit of faith, faith is assurance.
If now, the advocates of doubt
respond that justification is not forgiveness in the forum of one’s consciousness, if
they argue that it is possible to be justified without being sure of it, if they contend
that, in fact, most Christians have faith and are justified without any certainty that
their sins are forgiven, they sin against the basic gospel-truth of justification, as
against the testimony of the entire Reformation.
And if they are right, the truth
of God’s free justification of sinners leaves me cold.
Justification does me no good. It
leaves me, believer though I am, groaning in the misery of the guilt and shame of my sins
and sinful nature, and fearful of a wrathful God. It
sends me home as condemned in my own consciousness as the damned Pharisee.
Of Psalm 23, as the confident
confession of every believer, and of the model prayer—the “Our
Father”—as the confident prayer of every believer, I have spoken before in this
series on assurance. Both of these familiar
passages of Scripture are essential elements of the Christian’s life. Both imply certainty of salvation. Both are the expressions of faith. Faith says, “The Lord is my shepherd.” And faith says, “Our Father.” Faith says, “The Lord is my shepherd,” and, “Our
Father,” because faith is assurance of salvation.
Assurance
by Virtue
Faith is essentially and
necessarily assurance because of the promise to which faith looks and upon which faith
depends. Faith never exists by itself alone. Faith is always trust in the promise of God. The promise creates faith and draws faith to
itself. The promise of God is true and
certain altogether. Faith is convinced of the
promise. Because the promise is God’s
sure Word of the salvation of the one to whom the promise is given, and who believes the
promise, faith is certainty of salvation.
As certain as is the promise of
God, so assured is faith that receives and depends on the promise.
In Romans 4:13ff., the apostle
teaches that faith is assurance by virtue of the sure promise that faith has respect to. Abraham “staggered not at the promise of God
through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded
that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform” (vv. 20, 21). What was true of Abraham is true also of every one
of us who has the faith of father Abraham (v. 23). Our
faith too is “full persuasion” of God’s promise of our salvation in Christ.
So much is God, the heavenly
Father of all His sons and daughters, determined that His dear children not live in
miserable, terrifying, sinful doubt, that He adds an oath to His promise. “God, willing more abundantly to show unto
the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was
impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to
lay hold upon the hope set before us” (Heb. 6:17, 18).
This implies all the more that faith, which knows and rests on the promise, is
assurance.
Preaching
Assurance
Believers and their children
must be taught that faith is assurance. The
Spirit of Christ works assurance of salvation, that is, faith, by the sound, healthy, and
health-giving preaching of the Word. Healthy
preaching assures the believer that his faith may, must, does, and will consist of
certainty of salvation.
Preaching that denies that faith
is assurance; preaching that suggests that one can trust in Christ for salvation without
having assurance; preaching that reserves assurance for only a few believers, who must
make themselves worthy by years of struggle with doubt; preaching that delights in
directing the spiritual gaze of men and women who believe the gospel away from Christ
crucified to their own experiences, questioning the genuineness of their faith, the
sincerity of their sorrow for sin, and the reality of their salvation—sickly
preaching—creates doubters. The Spirit
of Christ certainly does not make such preaching His means to work assurance, that is,
faith, in the congregation.
Good preaching always comes
“in much assurance” (I Thess. 1:5).
Not in much doubting.
Letters
Silence
concerning Murray
I
am a subscriber to the Standard
Bearer. I find constant encouragement and support from the
magazine, as also from the literature put out by the fellowship in Ballymena, Northern
Ireland and from the books published by the RFPA.
In the south of England, where I
live and work, there is a scarcity of Reformed church life, although I am not disparaging
the small fellowships with whom I huddle for comfort in this evil day.
My letter concerns the editorial
on Iain Murray’s book about John Wesley, “Wesley and Murray, Who Follows” (SB,
Dec. 15, 2003).
Having heard of the impending
publication of the book, I wrote to Mr. Murray before he went to press. I mentioned to him the serious criticisms of
Wesley’s theology as un-Reformed by A.M. Toplady, J. Mclean, and others. Murray dismissed my enquiries and told me to
comment after I read the book.
Having read the book, I began to
prepare a reply. Then I read your editorial. Praise the Lord for such a sound, truthful, and
articulate response to Murray’s book.
Has Murray responded to your
critique?
I am going to send the issue of
the SB containing your editorial to the Protestant Alliance based in
Bedford, England. It ran an article in the
vein of Iain Murray to mark the 300th
anniversary of the Wesleys.
It is amazing to me that, so far
as I know, no one in Reformed circles in the United Kingdom has responded to Murray’s
book as you have.
Once again, the Protestant
Reformed Churches have proved to be the churches standing firm in this godless age of
apostasy and abounding error.
Jim
Scoales
Portsmouth, England UK
That They May Teach Them to Their Children:
Prof.
Russell Dykstra
Prof.
Dykstra is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed
Seminary.
Two
Different Covenants, Two Different Schools (2)
The two different covenants compared and contrasted in the last
installment are the conditional and the unconditional covenants. By the unconditional covenant of grace is meant
the relationship of friendship that God sovereignly establishes with Christ (eternally) as
the Mediator and Head of the covenant, and in Christ with all the elect. This covenant is not merely a means unto
salvation, but is the very goal of God, namely everlasting covenant fellowship with His
people. God establishes His covenant
unilaterally with His chosen in the line of continued generations, that is, with believers
and their seed. At baptism, God promises
salvation, and He always keeps His promises. However,
His promises are only for the elect children, even as the promises of the preaching are
only for the elect hearer. Upon this
foundation, Protestant Reformed schools are established.
The conditional covenant view
holds that God establishes a covenant as an arrangement in which He will give the
blessings of salvation to some members of the covenant.
The covenant is not established with Christ as Head, and thus with the elect only;
rather it is established individually, with each believer and every baptized child. According to this view, God gives to every child
of believers the promises of salvation and seals the promises to each by baptism. Nonetheless, God’s promises are conditional,
and whether or not each child actually receives the promised blessings depends on the
child’s believing the promises, thus ratifying the covenant with God.
Reformed, Christian schools have
ever been founded on the covenant of God with believers and their seed. Since the foundation of an institution determines
much of its character, the school established upon the doctrine of the unconditional
covenant is different in many respects from the school established on the foundation of a
conditional covenant. In order to set forth
these differences, we will first examine the schools that are established by parents who
maintain the doctrine of a conditional covenant. Next
time, these schools will be compared and contrasted with those founded on the doctrine of
an unconditional covenant.
Do recall the caution given in
the last article, namely, that not all schools established on the doctrine of a
conditional covenant will be entirely consistent with their foundation for various
reasons. Hence, not everything presented in
this article will be found in every Christian school in this group. Nonetheless, what is presented is the logical
working out of the conditional covenant, and most has been corroborated by documents
and/or experience.
First of all, an examination of
schools associated with the conditional covenant produces the startling discovery that the
covenant often is not specifically identified as the foundation. The covenant is usually mentioned as an element
in the school. Other significant
“stones” are more prominent in the foundation, especially that of preparing the
students for service in the kingdom. (Recall
the caution expressed in the first article, how other factors influence the school. One wonders how much of this is the result of the
old AACS [now ICS] movement.) The covenant
is usually cited, not as the foundation for the instruction, but as a reason why a child
should attend the Christian school. It is
stated that God created a distinction between the children of believers and the children
of unbelievers; believing parents must recognize this fact and send their children to the
Christian school. Or it is stated that these
children have been purchased by the blood of Christ; they ought therefore to be sent to a
Christian school.
Secondly, the character and
content of Christian education is shaped by the teachers’ view of their students. How would teachers that believe in a conditional
covenant view their students? To begin with,
they would believe that each of their students has all the promises of God. They do not believe that all the students are
regenerated, nor do they like to emphasize regeneration.
They might well say that the question whether the children are or are not (yet)
converted is immaterial. What is important is
that they have the promises; God’s promises do not fail. Yet, for the promises to be realized, the students
must keep the demands that God placed upon them, which are especially faith and obedience.
On the basis of the conditional-
covenant view, one would presume that a high priority of teachers would be to call the
students to believe and obey — to fulfill the demands of the covenant so that they
may enjoy the blessings. I have not found
this to be the case, either in personal contact with these schools, or in various of their
writings, though this may vary from one teacher to the next.
There are, however, clear
indications that three other serious errors result from this covenant view. The first is presupposed salvation. Although conditional-covenant folks inveigh
against Abraham Kuyper’s view of presupposed regeneration (and rightly so),
yet the logical conclusion of their doctrine of the covenant is that parents presume
the salvation of their children. Consider
that they insist (rightly) that God is sovereign, and thus His promises never fail. In addition, they maintain that God has promised
salvation to the individual children. Even
the actual act of faith, they agree, is by God’s grace. The obvious conclusion is: All these baptized children are or will be saved. Even if they walk in sin for a while, God’s
promises are true, and these baptized ones have the promises of God guaranteed to them to
the day of their death. So long as the child
has not specifically become a covenant breaker by renouncing his baptism, the parents may
(and do) take comfort in the thought that the child will come to salvation, for God’s
promises never fail. Presupposed salvation is
the logical working out of the conditional covenant.
A second erroneous inference of
the conditional covenant is presupposed unregeneration. Generally, the adherents of the conditional
covenant also believe in mediate regeneration, namely that God works through the preaching
to give the new life of Christ. God works
salvation through conscious knowledge. Such
knowledge an infant does not have. This is in
perfect harmony with their belief that the baptized children do not enjoy the benefits of
the covenant until they fulfill the demands of faith and obedience. Clearly no infant can do this. At what age can this be done? No one is sure, but until that happens, the child
is unregenerate. This is not openly stated,
but it is a necessary conclusion of the conditional covenant.
This has far-reaching
implications for instruction in the Christian school.
The teacher cannot rightly maintain that the student has the power to obey, for the
child is probably not regenerated. He must be
guided and channeled, but largely in the same manner as the child in the public school
would be. The teacher could try to have some
good influence on the child, and hope that one day (after regeneration) the instruction
would be recalled and then lived with conviction.
It is worth noting that most who
teach the conditional covenant also maintain that God bestows a common grace on all men,
or at least on all baptized children. Perhaps
the Christian schoolteacher has some hope that this common grace in the (unregenerated)
baptized child will apply the instruction for his good.
At the same time, this also places the covenant child at the same level as the
child outside the covenant. The teacher in
the Christian school would have no more hope or basis for influencing his kindergartner, at
that time at least, than a teacher in the public school would have.
A third tragic consequence of
the conditional covenant is a practical antinomianism.
According to this view of the covenant, God has spoken His promise to this
child by name and sealed it to him by baptism. A
dissolute life does not dissolve those promises. In
the best of situations, it is inevitable that a live-as-you-please attitude develops among
some of the youth. However, the conditional
covenant’s conception of children will allow a certain toleration of such an
attitude, a recipe for disaster. For,
according to this view, until the child accepts the promises, no one can expect him to
live as a child of God. One may remind the
covenant youth that God has a claim on his life, but God has a claim on the life of every
creature. One may enjoin the child to recall
that God made beautiful promises to him, and that he must believe these promises and
receive the blessings. But until the child
has done so, he has not the power to live a sanctified life. Yet, he has the promises, and at any time in his
life he may claim them. But for now….
These are some of the evil
fruits of the teaching of a conditional covenant as it determines how children in the
sphere of the covenant are to be viewed. These
are not Reformed fruits. The effect on the
instruction and atmosphere in the school is disastrous, insofar as the principles work
through.
There are other implications of
the conditional covenant for the Christian school. One
has to do with the question: Is Christ the
center of the instruction in the school? Christ-centered
instruction is the mark of Christian education, as the very name demands. However, if the instruction is consistently in
harmony with the conditional covenant, Christ will not be at the center of the
instruction, for Christ is not the center of the conditional covenant. He is the Mediator of the covenant, not the Head. He earns the blessings of the covenant, but the
covenant is with the individual, not with Christ. With
consistent conditional-covenant instruction, Christ is off to the side, and the focus of
the instruction is on the child. If this be
the case, it is a serious indictment of the covenantal foundation.
What are the implications of
this covenant view for the antithesis, another significant Reformed doctrine? Is the antithesis maintained? The proponents of the conditional covenant would
affirm that it is, holding that the antithesis consists in the fact that the children of
believers are separated by God from the children of unbelievers. No doubt there is truth in that — covenant
children are distinguished from the children of this world by baptism. Although believing parents do not establish
covenantal schools on the principle of world flight, they do not either desire to send
their children out into the world and immerse them in the filth and vile iniquity of the
public school. A Christian school is for
covenant children, for children of believers.
However, the antithesis is not
maintained merely by sending the baptized child to a Christian school. This is plain, on the one hand, from the fact that
the baptized children include elect and reprobate (witness Jacob and Esau), so in reality
the antithesis between the godly and the ungodly is not being maintained. On the other hand, drawing the line thus will
militate against living the antithesis. Living
the antithesis demands living unto God and against sin, even when sin appears in the
student in the next desk — in the Christian school.
The reality is that in most conditional-covenant circles, the concept antithesis is
rarely discussed, much less emphasized. If
this same lack is reflected in the daily instruction, it is a serious weakness in the
Christian school.
Discipline is a related concern
in every school that bears the name of Christ. One
would expect, logically, that the conditional-covenant schools would tend towards
legalism, and that the discipline would be according to laws and demands. That has been the experience of this writer. To be fair, it must be acknowledged that virtually
every Christian school struggles with good use of rules.
Schools must maintain order, and rules must be made, and then enforced rather
impartially. It is preferable that the school
avoid endless rulemaking and operate out of principles.
But the conditional covenant has law at its heart — demand and promise,
conditions — and this ordinarily finds expression in the discipline exercised in the
schools that maintain this covenant view.
Connected to that is the
question of what is the motive for obedience in this system. The ordinary answer is: the motivation is the
student’s special status and privilege as a covenant child. The word gratitude is not ordinarily used
in these discussions. Responsibility is! But not gratitude.
The children are not called to live antithetical lives out of gratitude. Why not? Could
it be that, while the child has the great privilege of being in the covenant, doing good
is his duty in the covenant, part of the condition he must fill to maintain
the covenant? And thus salvation as
God’s great work is not consciously emphasized as reason for grateful obedience?
It should be evident that there
are serious implications of the conditional covenant, which are worked out, to one degree
or another, in the Christian school that is founded on it.
Many of these implications are contrary to the very heart of Reformed education.
On the other hand, there are
significant implications for the school built on the doctrinal foundation of the
unconditional covenant. Those implications,
when worked out, mark significant differences between the respective schools. More on this next time.
Search the Scriptures:
Rev.
Ronald Hanko
Rev.
Hanko is pastor in the Protestant Reformed Church of Lynden, Washington.
Haggai: Rebuilding the Church (7)
The
First Prophecy (continued)
13. Then spake Haggai the Lord’s messenger in the Lord’s message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord.
The
word of encouragement that Haggai brings to the people, who were now obeying God’s
command to rebuild the temple, is simple and short, but contains all that the people
needed to hear. It is for Judah the promise
that the temple, though far less glorious than Solomon’s, would be the house of God
Himself, who would live among His people there, bless them from that place, and keep
covenant with them.
That God speaks in the present
tense (the word “am” is not in the Hebrew, but that is certainly the idea here,
as the KJV suggests) and says, “I am with you.”
This does not only mean that now that they had obeyed and begun working, He would
prosper their work and bless them according to all the promises, but it is also a reminder
that their obedience itself was the result of His presence and grace. In no other way could they possibly have obeyed or
been stirred up out of their sloth.
This Word of God is, throughout
Scripture, the formula for the covenant. In
that covenant, the relationship between God and His people, the covenant is always
described in those terms, that God is the God of His people and is with them, and that He
takes them as His people. That promise is, of
course, realized fully in the new heavens and earth (Rev. 21:3), but even now it is
realized in the church as the body of Christ and the house of God.
The Lord fulfilled that promise
as well. Ezra tells us that the eye of the
Lord was on them to protect them from their enemies and to turn the heart of the king to
favor their cause, so that the things they needed for the work were provided by His
decree. God’s words of encouragement are
not empty as ours are, but are the powerful, helping, saving words of the Almighty. These words are like the words of blessing with
which many New Testament books begin. Like
them, these words actually bring God’s richest blessing to His people.
The words that Haggai brought
are the heart of every word of encouragement God gives us.
He does not tell us what is ahead, He never tries to reassure us by minimizing
future difficulties or by promising that there will be none. All He ever really says is this, “I am with
you.” We must remember that in all our
work and not judge the value and profit by visible results, by the lack of difficulties,
or by our own perceptions of the work.
This encouragement is given
especially for the church and is given because God loves His church for Christ’s
sake. The Belgic Confession says this and
states:
This church hath been from the beginning of the world, and will be to the end thereof... [and] is preserved or supported by God, against the rage of the whole world; though she sometimes (for a while) appears very small, and in the eyes of men to be reduced to nothing (Art. 27).
Let us notice, too, however,
that this encouragement is given immediately upon evidence of repentance. God does not put His people on probation when they
repent of their sins, but blesses them without delay, a great encouragement to repentance.
Haggai is called here the
Lord’s messenger, and his word of encouragement the Lord’s “message.” The word “messenger” or
“message” is, in the Old Testament, the same word that is often translated
“angel” (Gen. 16:7; 19:1; etc.). It
can, therefore, be used as a general term for any messenger or for those special
messengers who live in the presence of God in heaven.
That it is used here for Haggai is somewhat surprising, because he is always
elsewhere referred to as a prophet. It must
be used here to underline the fact that the encouragement given by Haggai comes from
heaven, and is of the same order as the gracious messages of angels so often recorded in
Scripture.
14. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God,
15. In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.
The date recorded is not merely
a matter of historical record, but proof that the obedience of Judah was without delay, as
all obedience to God and to men ought to be. Within
a month’s time the people were once more busy with God’s work after a lapse of
about twenty years. Their previous
disobedience and sloth had proved them unwilling and unable to obey in and of themselves. The credit for their obedience must all be given
to the grace of God, given through his prophetic Word, and worked by His Spirit in the
hearts of His people. Haggai’s
contemporary, Zechariah, speaks of that in chapter 4 of his prophecy: “Not by might,
nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” (v. 6).
We must not miss the fact,
either, that the people began the work before the decree of Art-axerxes was repealed. Tatnai, the governor of the territory in which
Judah was found, investigated the news that they were building again and wrote the king,
suggesting that it would be in his best interest to have the work stopped. He also reported the words of the people, who had
said that Cyrus had sent them to rebuild the temple.
When investigation was made in Babylon it was discovered that the Jews had spoken
the truth. Cyrus had decreed the rebuilding
of the temple and sent them to Judah to do it, and so Darius not only forbad the governor
from interfering, but commanded him to give the people everything they needed for the work
and for sacrifices. In that way God showed
that He was with them. But the people did not
wait for the matter to be investigated or for the decree of king Darius, but began and
continued the work in obedience to God.
That is the nature of true
obedience always. It does not wait for men,
not even for kings and rulers, nor does it fear them and their decrees, but insists that
God has spoken and that what He has said must be done, no matter what the consequences.
Such obedience is always the
fruit of God’s own grace. That is
evident from the testimony of these verses. The
people and their leaders obeyed because God stirred up their spirits. He did that by His Word through Haggai and by the
internal work of the Holy Spirit. His Word is
always quick and powerful, the way in which He gives His grace to us, not only at the
beginning of our Christian life but daily. May
He so stir up the spirits of His people today to obey and to come and work in the house of
the Lord their God, that is, in the church, which is also the pillar and ground of the
truth.
We should note that a stirred up
spirit is characterized by the fear of the Lord. Such
fear is not the slavish terror of those who hate God and who come under His judgments, but
a fear that trembles in awe and reverence before the presence of His majesty. Such fear is sadly lacking among Christians today
and is the result of a lack of knowledge of God and His glory. Such fear is necessary if ever we are to
understand the importance of His house and the urgency of our calling to work in His
house.
Having such fear, according to
Isaiah 8:13, means that we “sanctify the Lord,” and Peter adds that we do this
in our hearts (I Pet. 3:15). To sanctify
something is to make it separate and holy, and we sanctify God when we know in our hearts
the glory of His holiness and esteem Him separate from all others in glory and power. We hold Him holy in our hearts when we are
governed by a deep awareness of His holiness in everything we say and do.
Judah showed that fear of God
when they once more put His glory and His house first and set it above their earthly
concerns. They showed the fear of God when
they turned to God in repentance and conversion, remembering the Lord’s holiness and
turning from sin.
A stirred up spirit is also
characterized by quick and ready obedience. That
was so in the case of the people of Judah. It
is the case also now. A stirred up spirit
does not make excuses, does not procrastinate, does not continue idle, indifferent, and
careless, but immediately does what God requires. Such
stirred up spirits are a great necessity in the church of Jesus Christ, for without them,
the people of God will continue to run to their own houses.
Such stirred up spirits are the
work and gift of the Holy Spirit and are given when the Holy Spirit applies Christ and His
work to God’s people. The Spirit, in
other words, does not stir up their spirits by some secret and hidden operation but by
showing them the loveliness of Christ and of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. God does that here by the promise, “I am with
you,” a promise that is really the promise of Immanuel, God with us.
Stirred up spirits are much
needed and seldom found in the church today. People
are often stirred up, but by the wrong things and for the wrong ends. They will be much stirred up about turning the
church into a soup kitchen, about entertaining the young folk, about speaking in tongues
and miracles, but few are stirred up at the thought of fellowship with the living God,
with a desire to see His house built and prosperous, to see Him worshiped there as He has
commanded in His Word. These Jews, as we
ought to be, were stirred up by a desire to obey God, to work in His house, and to enjoy
once more the fellowship and blessedness of His covenant in that house. May God, by His Spirit, so stir up ours.
Finally, let us note that for
the first time in the prophecy God identifies Himself as the God of His people,
“their God,” not because His favor and relationship to them depend on their
obedience, but because it is only in the way of obedience that His people know and can
believe that He is “their God.” How
wonderful, after all His former threats and judgments, to know that He once more looks
with favor on His people and accepts them as His own!
Ministering to the Saints:
Rev.
Doug Kuiper
Rev.
Kuiper is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Randolph, Wisconsin.
The
Fundamental Work of the Deacons (3)
Determining Need
The first aspect of the fundamental work of the deacons is that of collecting the alms. This must be first in priority, as well as in time, for immediate needs must be immediately relieved. They must be relieved immediately, partly because of their urgency. Such needs must also be