Kersten, Heidelberg Catechism, Volume 1
    
The Heidelberg Catechism in 52 Sermons
    
Rev. G. H. Kersten, Late Minister of the Netherlands Reformed
Congregation, Rotterdam, Holland
    
Volume I
(Lord's Day 1-26)
    
1968
    
Translated from the Holland and printed by the Netherlands Reformed
Congregations in America
    
    
    
Introduction
    
    The committee in charge of translating and publishing this
exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism requested me to write an
introduction to this important work. Actually, as far as I am
concerned, I feel this to be superfluous, since the late minister
who wrote this book was widely known to be, through the grace of
God, a scribe well instructed in the Kingdom of God. As another Paul
he determined, both in his preaching and in his writings (many
sermons, a dogma, and an explanation of the Compendium) "not to know
any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (I Cor. 2:2).
Already during my youth the Rev. G. H. Kersten wrote meditations on
the Heidelberg Catechism in "De Saambinder" which were widely read,
with much profit and edification.
    
    Toward the end of his life his exposition of the Catechism in
sermon form was published in the Netherlands, and this book was also
gladly received and read by our Dutch-speaking congregations in
America and Canada. After our Synod had obtained the necessary
permission, it decided to undertake the translation of this
extensive work into the language of these countries.
    
    The Rev. Kersten was a dogmatist par excellence. His greatest
ambition was, by the grace of God bestowed on him, to clarify,
explain, and defend the doctrine which is according to godliness. He
did so from the pulpit. This was more than evident wherever he
preached; especially the congregations which he served as a pastor
during his lifetime can testify to this. At meetings he was a
champion of the Reformed doctrine. The same was true in his
Catechism classes. He always strove to present and teach the
fundamentals of the truth simply and clearly, in order that his
pupils might retain them and never depart from them. For years he
gave his best talents as an instructor at the Theological School
which was founded in 1927 at Rotterdam.
    
    When I was accepted as a student in 1924, the late Rev. W. den
Hengst from Leyden was in charge of the training of theological
students. He was a humble but very wise teacher, who himself had
received his education at the Free University of Amsterdam and could
speak many languages fluently. When this minister could no longer
perform this task on account of physical weaknesses, Synod
unanimously voted to entrust the training of future ministers to the
Rev. Kersten. In spite of the many labors already burdening him, he
accepted this new task. How solemnly, yet how faithfully and
lovingly he tried to train us in the solid and immovable foundations
of the truth! How he urged us to search the writings of the Reformed
fathers! And constantly, with tears, he admonished us to stand fast
in the truth and never to depart from it either to the right or to
the left.
    
    This beloved servant of God knew the truth, because God by His
Spirit had declared and revealed the truth in his heart. The truth
had made him free; he was squarely founded on the truth and he loved
the truth. Both in his life and teaching, the honour of God was his
highest goal.
    
    In this work, too, the reader will discover that the Word of God
always occupies the place of preeminence. The author constantly and
earnestly endeavors to search for the true meaning and intent of the
Holy Spirit in the exposition of the truth. On the other hand, he
also constantly insists on an experimental and practical, personal
knowledge in one's own heart and life. He places the foundation of
our salvation in eternity; or, to say it differently, he begins with
eternity and ends with eternity. With all the power and talent God
gave him, he preached man's state of death in Adam and man's life in
Christ, thereby always emphasizing the work of the Holy Spirit, Who
must apply the truth to man's heart. Only then can follow a
believing acceptance on man's part.
    
    When I was a boy of sixteen, the Lord led me to go and hear the
Rev. Kersten preach. This was on a Thanksgiving Day. No sooner had
he opened his mouth and spoken the solemn words. "Our help is in the
Name of the Lord who made heaven and earth," then they sank into my
soul so deeply that I could feel the unction of the Holy Spirit that
attended these words. I sat stricken under his preaching the rest of
the day. I shall never forget that day, although at that time I
could not have dreamed that one day I would be sitting at his feet
as one of his students, and far less that there would come a time
when we would be laboring together in the Lord's vineyard for about
eleven years in one and the same city, Rotterdam.
    
    By the grace of God this servant was given to build on the solid
foundation of the apostles and prophets, of which Jesus Christ is
the chief cornerstone. The reader will observe this throughout this
exposition of the Catechism, which we wholeheartedly recommend for
use both in the reading services in the congregations and for
personal study in your homes. May the fruit thereof shake like
Lebanon (Ps. 72:16)!
    
     In 1955 our congregations received with joy the translation of
another exposition of the Catechism by the late Rev. G. van Reenen,
and these sermons, as well as many of his others, are being read and
retread in the congregations because they so beautifully expound the
blessed work of the triune God. Also concerning this servant, with
whom I was so intimately acquainted for seven years during my first
pastorals at Leyden, can be said, "The memory of the just is
blessed" (Prov. 10:7). Eternity will reveal to which extent the
simple exposition of the Catechism has been blessed to the hearts of
many, also on this side of the ocean.
    
    Nonetheless, everything here below is imperfect; sermons are
too, whether they be orally delivered or read in translation. In
many of the notes of approbation that are printed in the books of
our Reformed fathers, we read in the recommendation: "... leaving
the burden of proof for some of the explanations and opinions on the
author. As far as the contents and the basis are concerned, these
are according to the Word of God and the Doctrinal Standards of the
Reformed Church." My first instructor, the Rev. W. den Hengst, used
to say concerning minor matters: "These are subject to differences
of opinion."
    
    It is my heartfelt wish and prayer that the King of His dearly
bought Church, Christ Jesus, may richly bless the publication of
this translated exposition of the Catechism to the honour of God's
thrice-holy Name, to the true and eternal salvation and well-being
of many souls, and to the instruction and edification of the
congregations. May it also lead to a closer examination of, further
instruction in, and confirmation of the old and proven truth, also
on the part of the rising generation and the generations to come!
Whereas on every side the truth is being denied and undermined, may
the unadulterated truth remain in our midst, namely, the doctrine
that glorifies God to the uttermost and debases the sinner to the
uttermost; the doctrine that insists on the sovereign and one-sided
work of God in Christ through the operation of the Holy Spirit; the
doctrine that glorifies Christ as the Son of the living God, as the
Surety and Mediator and Head of the covenant of grace, and as the
only Name given under heaven unto salvation whereby man must be
saved!
    
    May the Lord be pleased to use this book as a means in His hand,
through the operation of the Holy Spirit, to snatch many souls out
of the power of Satan and to bring them into the Kingdom of the Son
of God's eternal love! The Lord will and shall use His Word through
the application of the Spirit unto the perfection of the saints and
the completion of the body of Christ. May He bless the reading of
this work unto the hearts of His elect people! May He use it for the
discovering of hidden depths and the uncovering of false grounds,
but also for their instruction, encouragement, and comfort, indeed
for the strengthening of their common, undoubted Christian faith!
For then not man, but God only will receive all the glory unto all
eternity. May God's exalted approbation rest on this publication!
    
    In 1936 and 1939 the late author, who passed away in 1948, was
privileged to visit the congregations in America and to preach for
them for some time. His labors at that time, too, have not been vain
in the Lord.
    
    Finally, in the name of our Synod I wish to express our sincere
thanks to all who have contributed of their time and talents to
undertake the translation of this work. Many days and months have
been spent on this task. The Lord has given understanding, insight,
and strength, without which it would have been impossible to
accomplish it. Once again, our heartfelt thanks, and may God be
given all the honour!
    
                                For Synod,
                                Rev. W. L. Lamain
Grand Rapids, Michigan
September 1967
    
    
    
    
    
Foreword
    
To The Reader - Greetings:
    
    They who have repeatedly urged me to publish an explanation of
the Heidelberg Catechism have been very patient and after I
announced my decision to comply with that request, have sent in
their order to the publisher of "The Banner" to have the proof made
up. If they will consider that the cause of the delay was an illness
which forced me to limit my work as much as possible, I may trust
that the long delay will not be taken amiss. I have hurried to issue
the first Lord's Day to the consistories before the New Year, in the
hope that the Lord will give strength and courage so that I can send
out one sermon each week. The finished work shall be published in
two bound volumes, the first of which shall appear at the middle of
the year (D.V.).
    
    Many congregations follow the good custom of reading the entire
Catechism each year. There is a reason why this book of comfort is
divided into fifty-two parts. The continual repetition makes it
easier to follow the explanation of the doctrines, and (I may speak
from experience in this matter) does not decrease the interest in
the treatment of the Catechism. The continual repetition of the
material which this precious textbook offers concerning the doctrine
of misery, deliverance and gratitude, demands continual new
preparation, especially as some hearers have the commendable habit
of making notations of the sermons. That preparation deepens, by the
illumination of the Holy Spirit and the insight of the minister,
causing new light to fall each time on different parts. Therefore I
could never agree to change the habit of speaking from one Lord's
Day each week. Knowing that many vacant churches follow this order,
I have tried to send the first sermon out before the first Sunday of
the year, so if they desire to read these sermons in church, they
can start with the first sermon.
    
    It is with much fear that I begin this task. The extensive
duties laid upon me do hardly give enough time and I fear that the
finished work will show too many traces of the hasty preparation of
the manuscript, for which I ask the kind reader's pardon. Especially
am I troubled with the thought that the churches are very familiar
with the honorable explanations of the Catechism by the many old,
orthodox writers. Far be it from me to think that I can do better
than they. On the contrary, I am burdened with the realization that
I cannot stand in their shadow. Nevertheless, many churches desired
this publication so there would not be a necessity to read these
sermons by the same author so often, and to receive what our fathers
have left us in today's language and style. I do not blush to say
that I have always used and still read their works. and I am
strongly persuaded that we must not deviate from the doctrine of the
Reformers and their faithful followers. Therefore do I encourage the
reader to consult various well known writings as offered by Ursinus,
Bastingius, Smijtegelt, Vander Kemp, Justus Vermeer, Voetius,
d'Outrein and many others.
    
    Do not allow the longing for something new that seems universal,
to tempt you to leave the pure doctrine. We would especially warn
you against Barthianism in our country, presented by Dr. Niftrik and
strongly recommended as a textbook for high schools and colleges.
There is scarcely any of the old heresies that have not reappeared
in Barthianism in a new form. The concept of God: the revelation of
God, whereby He is known unto life eternal, according to Barth, "He
remains the Unknown One." The fall in Adam; redemption in Christ;
the ministry of the Holy Spirit; the doctrine of the sacraments and
whatever article of our Reformed religion I would mention, Barth
represents it contrary to the Reformed doctrine.
    
    We must also seriously admonish against a spreading, erroneous
concept of the Covenant of Grace, which strips it of its strength.
Although they mean to oppose the doctrine of presupposed
regeneration with this new theory of the covenant, they are
replacing it with that which makes men rest upon deceptive grounds
in a different way, neglecting the application of the Holy Spirit
and thereby the experience of the saints. In one word, it deviates
from the doctrine of the Reformed fathers. After the dispute I waged
against this new teaching, I was very happy that Dr. C. Steenblok
had this printed in our church paper by appealing to God's Word and
our very best, old theologians. Listen to these explanations before
you are carried along in the wake of the shallow theology of our
times, by which the foundations of God's church are undermined.
    
    To me it is superfluous and incomplete to read a text along
with each Lord's Day as some have made it a custom: superfluous,
because the congregation accepts the Catechism as being entirely in
accord with God's Word; and incomplete because with each Lord's Day,
four or five texts would have to be read to confirm the various
matters mentioned therein, as there are many texts noted with each
sermon. Standing in the midst of a congregation that embraces the
doctrine of the Heidelberg Catechism, the minister need only
strengthen it in its persuasion, point out the heresies and explain
the way of life for the comfort of God's elect church. Is this not
the great value of the Catechism, that it is a book of comfort? The
doctrine of Scripture is maintained objectively, but also treated
subjectively.
    
    Our Catechism does not speak of a pleading on the promises of
the gospel without the discovering work of the Holy Spirit, which
precedes the opening of the gospel. Thus the doctrine of man's
misery is discussed first, in its state, in its origin and in its
inevitableness, by which all hope of salvation is cut off. After
this the way of salvation is opened only in Christ Jesus. Herein the
instructor is so earnest and faithful that when the distressed
sinner asks whether there is a way by which he can be reconciled
with God, instead of instructing him to "Simply believe" of "Just
accept the promises of God", he points to the implacable
righteousness of God, that must be and is satisfied only by the
Mediator, Who is very God and also very Man, and perfectly
righteous. This is the language of the heart of God's people. It is
the experience of their souls that with all the benefits received
they are lost, and under the justice of God they faint unless they
may be found in the only Mediator. The Lord grant that we may remain
with this doctrine and be established in it, so that the sirenian
song heard these days on the Reformed arena will not seduce us and
cause us to land on Scylla or Charybdis.
    
    Especially do I urge our young people to search the old, tried
doctrines. I would make Comrie's words my own as I urge you not to
believe because I say so; but to search the writings of the fathers
and you will find the subjects as I hope to present them. The church
must be built of our youth; the officers must be chosen from our
young men. Do not waste the precious time of your youth; do not be
caught by the trivial literature of our days; seek a firm foundation
upon which you can build for the future. Do not fear the conflict
that awaits you. Above all, may the Lord sanctify the truth to your
hearts for your salvation and awaken in you a steadily increasing
interest in the doctrine presented in the Catechism.
    
    May it please the Lord to use the publication of these sermons
to the comfort of His people, to their growth in the knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that they may be rooted and built up in Him
and established in the faith.
    
    May I commend myself, along with this work, in the prayers of
God's people, so that this publication may carry His appropriation
and may be crowned with His blessing.
    
                        Rev. G. H. Kersten
Rotterdam, Holland
December 1947
    
    
    
    
    
Contents

Lord's Day

1 - The Christian's Only Comfort in Life and Death

2 - Of the Knowledge of Our Misery

3 - The Dreadful Cause of Man's Misery

4 - God's Righteousness Vindicated  Against Fallen Man

5 - The Anguished Cry of a Convicted Sinner for Deliverance

6 - The Person of the Mediator Revealed

7 - True Faith, the Line of Separation

8 - Faith in the Holy Trinity

9 - God's Fatherhood

10 - The Providence of God

11 - The Name of Jesus

12 - The Significance of the Name Christ for the Mediator and for
    His elect

13 - The Glory of Christ

14 - The Incarnation of the Word

15 - Christ's Mediatorial Suffering

16 - The Death of Christ and His Descent Into Hell

17 - The Profit of the Resurrection of Christ

18 - Of the Ascension of Christ

19 - The Heavenly Glory of Christ

20 - Of the Holy Ghost

21 - The Church of God

22 - The Eternal Bliss of the Church of God

23 - The Justification of the Sinner Before God as the Benefit of
    Faith

24 - The Relationship of God Works to the Justification of the
    Sinner Before God

25 - Of the Author of Faith and the Means of Grace Appointed by Him

26 - The Relation of Holy Baptism to the Sacrifice of Christ

    
    
    
The Christian's Only Comfort In Life and Death
    
    
Lord's Day 1
    
Psalter No. 349 - 1, 2
Isaiah 40: 1-18
Psalter No. 73 - 2, 6, 7
Psalter No. 260 - 5,6
Psalter No. 421 - 6



Beloved!
    
    The Word of the Lord contains the richest comforts for His
struggling church here on earth, which is subject to all kinds of
oppression, strife and troubles. On this side of the grave there is
one thing to the righteous and to the wicked. The Lord Jesus Himself
told His people, "In the world ye shall have tribulation," but at
the same time He encouraged them by adding, "Be of good cheer, I
have overcome the world." And, to name no other places, the faithful
Jehovah called to His afflicted people oppressed by the enemies, by
the mouth of Isaiah, "Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people, saith your
God." The little flock of the Lord is not left to itself, but,
having been purchased by the blood of Christ, they are prepared for
the eternal salvation, laid away for them by the eternal good
pleasure of the Father. When the critical moment for God's elect
came, and Christ was preparing Himself as a Lamb to be slaughtered,
when the greatest agitation came that moved heaven and earth, He
comforted His disciples, and in them His entire church, saying, "Let
not your heart be troubled. In My Father's house are many mansions,
if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place
for you."
    
    The world is unable to offer such a strong comfort, but the Lord
gives it to His people, so that the oppression and adversities of
this world become light, and even death is robbed of its terror and
destruction.
    
    The Heidelberg Catechism which we now wish to consider from week
to week deals with this only comfort, both in life and in death. I
now request your attention for the first Lord's Day.
    
Lord's Day 1
    
    Q. 1: What is thy only comfort in life and death?
    
    A. That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my
own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who, with His
precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered
me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without
the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head;
yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and
therefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life,
and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto
Him.
    
    Q. 2: How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou,
enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happily?
    
    A. Three; the first, how great my sins and miseries are; the
second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries; the
third, how I shall express my gratitude to God for such deliverance.
    
    This Lord's Day speaks of the Christian's only comfort in life
and death.
    
Speaking of this comfort, the catechism indicates:
    
I The firm foundation upon which this comfort rests,

II The enduring strength of this comfort,

III The sure way by which this comfort is obtained.
    
    The first question already deserves all our attention. The
instructor inquires after the only comfort in life and in death.
Important question! All people, because of sin, are subject in this
life to all manner of sorrows, and of all people it is said, "It is
appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." The
earth is cursed because of our sins; it brings forth thorns and
thistles. The whole creation groans and travails in pain. Poverty,
sickness and unjust treatment often cause us to grieve. Moreover,
the wages of sin is death. What can comfort us and raise up our head
out of our troubles? Who shall deliver his soul from the grave? All
people are miserable comforters. But still there is a comfort both
in life and in death, and it is the great significance of the
catechism that it unfolds that only comfort upon the foundation of
God's infallible testimony.
    
    The catechism was written in 1563 in the city of Heidelberg,
the capital city of the Palatinate. This German state had for some
time been troubled by the conflicts between the Lutherans and the
Calvinists. However when the God fearing Frederick III came to the
throne, who not only sought the political welfare of his country,
but especially sought to maintain the pure religion as the
foundation for the true welfare of his people, Zacharias Ursinus and
Caspar Olevianus were instructed to draw up a catechism which could
be used for instruction in schools and in churches. The elector
himself wrote the preface for this book. It was like a thunderclap
from heaven when the Heidelberg catechism appeared in January, 1563.
Translated into all European languages, it was distributed in all
countries. Rome trembled upon its foundations, the Lutherans were
furious. All those who reviled the pure doctrine worked together to
make the hated catechism disappear. The elector himself was summoned
before the Diet of Augsburg in 1566, and he went, although loss of
his estate and even death threatened him. He defended with much
liberty the true doctrine confessed in the catechism, and the Lord
gave him so much influence that his enemies were silenced, and he
was permitted to use this instruction in the Christian doctrine
throughout his domain. Thus the truth triumphed.
    
    From Heidelberg the catechism was introduced into the
Netherlands through the services of the faithful, zealous chaplain
of Frederick III, Peter Datheen. The provincial Synod in 1574
decided to use this catechism, and in 1578 the General Synod did
likewise, and the churches of the Netherlands have never been sorry.
This book has been reprinted innumerable times. Many explanations of
the catechism have been published, and up to this present day those
who love the truth of God, love to hear catechism preaching.
    
    This is not strange, for not only does the catechism explain the
pure doctrine, but the doctrine is also applied, so that there is
spirit and life in this booklet for the comfort of God's dear
people. Let us then again give our attention to that which the
instructor says in accordance with God's Word, which alone can be
our comfort, both in life and in death.
    
    That comfort is an only comfort; it cannot be replaced by any
other. The world with its empty pleasures cannot comfort us in the
day of our sorrow. Its riches are despised when our soul is
grieving. Its friendship can only utter its stoical advice, "Don't
let it bother you; just fight your way through it." Even our
religious practice and our Reformed doctrine, although they have
more power than the pleasures of sin, are unable to give us the true
comfort that can make us glory in tribulations. And when we die, all
things upon which we built our hope leave us, except our communion
with Christ. In that communion lies the only comfort.
    
    That comfort is also personal. The instructor asks, "What is
*thy* only comfort?" Christ was not sent into the world to merit
only a possibility for all men to be saved, as if fallen man with
his own powers could accept Christ at his pleasure. God's promises
of salvation were not given to all men. The Holy Ghost applies
Christ and His benefits to His people personally. By grace it
becomes my comfort, both in life and in death, to belong unto my
faithful Savior. David encouraged himself in the Lord his God when
Ziklag was burned, and his wives and children and those of his men
had been carried away. Through that comfort God's children can sing,
not only by day, but also in the nights when it is dark. Paul and
Silas sang praises unto God in prison while their feet were bound in
the stocks. That comfort was the strength of Daniel in the lions'
den and of his three friends in the fiery furnace. God's people have
comfort not only in the hope that at their death all tears shall be
wiped away from their eyes, but the psalmist also said, "I had
fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living."
    
    At their death this comfort does not leave God's children. On
his deathbed Jacob cried, "I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord,"
and Simon rejoices, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in
peace, according to Thy word; for mine eyes have seen Thy
salvation." Stephen saw the heavens opened and Jesus standing at the
right hand of God to receive him into eternal glory. Paul desired to
depart and to be with Christ which was far better. Death is
swallowed up in victory. In the enjoyment of this comfort, the
church of God cries out, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave,
where is thy victory?" But upon what firm foundation does this
comfort stand that it makes one rest secure in the Lord, even in the
greatest afflictions?
    
    The catechism tells us what this firm foundation is, first
negatively, then affirmatively. Negatively the instructor states,
"That I am not my own." To be my own constitutes the depth of our
fall. Satan tempted Eve by promising her, "Ye shall be as gods,
knowing good and evil," that is, "You shall no longer be under God,
you need no more obey Him, to do as He bids or forbear what He
forbids. You yourself shall determine what is good and what is evil.
You shall be your own, independent of God. You shall be your own
Lord and master." That is the depth of our fall, independent of God,
to be our own, a slave of Satan and sin, subject to the just
sentence of eternal death. Save yourself then, O man, in your
sorrow, save yourself from the gnawing of your conscience, save
yourself in the hour of death, when you shall fall into the hands of
the living God. Flatter yourself in your state of deep misery until
the scales fall from your eyes and you sink away into everlasting
desperation, when it shall be too late to be delivered from your
misery and to obtain that only comfort that holds both in life and
in death. Does this negation of the instructor not have a deep
significance? We must be delivered from ourselves to partake of that
comfort. We must be deposed, and deprived of our self-rule. Those
who would obtain that comfort must be cut off by the Holy Spirit
from the root upon which they are growing. Many would take hold of
Jesus as a drowning person takes hold of the rope held out for him,
but he is deceiving himself as long as he has not become a lost
sinner in himself. All the Pelagian grounds of man's free will are
dashed in pieces. We are neither able nor willing to be saved by
free grace through Christ alone unless we are "not our own," unless
we despair, as God teaches His people, of our own powers, and
surrender to God as lost sinners, casting the weapons of our enmity
at His feet. Then they shall feel the strength of those words of the
Catechism that form the firm foundation of our only comfort: "that I
am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ."
    
    And how did God's elect become the possession of Christ?
    
    A. They are given to Him. Not only because of creation, but also
because of election they belonged to the Father. When the Covenant
of Grace was established in eternity, they were given to Christ when
He promised to fulfill all the demands of the covenant and had
engaged His heart to save His people. He himself says, "Thine they
were and Thou gavest them Me." How surely then are they the
possession of the Mediator. No one shall pluck them out of the
Father's hand, nor out of His hand. Christ's claim upon them is
rooted in the eternal covenant and is beyond the reach of Satan, of
the world and of sin.
    
    B. With His precious blood Christ has paid in full for all the
sins of those that were given Him by the Father. Payment in full was
demanded, payment by perfect obedience to the law, and by bearing
the punishment pronounced upon sin. God cannot lay His righteousness
aside, then He would cease to be God. The last penny had to be paid
before the debt and the sins of Adam's posterity could be blotted
out. All creatures, angels and men together, could not pay. God's
own and natural Son, gave Himself in our human nature to pay for all
the original and actual sins of His elect. He could cry out upon the
cross, "It is finished," when He had fully borne the eternal wrath
of God and had rendered perfect obedience to the law. By His
sacrifice He has completely blotted out the guilt of His people, not
one sin remained unpaid for. From the hour of our conception until
we draw our last breath, our sins cry out for the just penalty of
death. In itself every sin remains worthy of death. In God's sight
there are no pardonable sins. But Christ has paid for the sins of
all His people and by one offering has perfected forever them that
are sanctified. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus. Satan shall never again appear among the sons
of God to dispute about Job's righteousness or to point to Joshua's
filthy garments. Christ beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that
justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea
rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God,
Who also maketh intercession for us!
    
    C. By purchase the elect have become the possession of Christ,
because He has delivered them from all the power of the devil. We
have freely surrendered ourselves to his power. We are of our father
the devil, who was a murderer from the beginning, and no man shall
escape his hellish claws than those who are delivered. Already in
the first promise the Seed of the woman was announced, Who would
crush the head of Satan. As the Lion of the tribe of Judas He has
conquered. He has led captivity captive. The devil held those bought
by the blood of Christ illegally until the moment of God's good
pleasure arrived when the King of Zion entered the house of a strong
man armed to spoil his goods. For the Lord has not only in His
humiliation and triumph taken possession of those who are given Him
by the Father, but He also actually takes His own out of the state
of death and of wrath wherein they are with all men.
    
    D. Thus they become the possession of Christ and are united to
Him by faith. Out of this flows the only comfort both in life and
death. In regeneration they are cut off from Adam and ingrafted into
Christ. They are grafted into the vine and cannot be lost. The firm
foundation of their comfort does not lie in themselves, nor in the
grace given in their hearts, but in the fact that Christ made them
His own, and they are no more their own. "Whether we live or die,"
says the apostle, "we are the Lord's." The grace in our souls is
subject to attacks by our triple headed enemy, and often in that
battle there is no weapon to which Satan will yield. Therefore God's
people are often in darkness and sorrow when they depend upon that
grace. But in communion with, and in surrender to and in dependence
upon Christ, strong fountains of comfort are opened that cause them
to expect eternal life, that give them a taste of it in this life,
that obtain strength from the sympathetic High Priest to endure all
grief and sorrow, and that drive away all accusers and distresses.
Certainly the only comfort both in life and in death has a firm
foundation, an immovable ground which, according to the will of the
Father and the power of the Holy Spirit lies not in us, but in the
fact that "Christ with His precious blood has fully satisfied for
all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil."
    
    That only comfort, resting upon such a firm foundation, has
great power. I would now ask your attention for my second point.
    
    II

    The enduring power which this comfort possesses.
    
    Of this the catechism speaks in the second part of the answer,
saying that the Lord so preserves His people that without the will
of their heavenly Father not a hair can fall from their head; yea,
that all things must be subservient to their salvation, and
therefore by His Holy Spirit He also assures them of eternal life,
and makes them willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto Him.
    
    That preservation is one of God's great promises given to His
people. In their own strength God's children cannot stand a moment
nor walk in the way of life. In them is no might against the great
company of enemies who attack them not only outwardly, but also
inwardly day and night. But they are kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Yea, the hairs of their heads are all numbered, and without the will
of their heavenly Father not one of them shall fall to the ground.
What then have they to fear? Do no hairs fall from their heads? Does
not their path go in the midst of many tribulations? Oh yes, indeed,
but also the adversities of this life, the oppressions in the flesh,
and the distresses of both soul and body shall serve for their
salvation. They shall be exercised by them; they shall die to the
world; and the world shall be crucified unto them, as Paul says,
"The world is crucified unto me and I unto the world." Being hated,
despised, and cursed by the world, God's people learn to despise the
world itself. In deep ways of oppression God's people are exercised,
and they learn to feel themselves strangers on earth, and they seek
another country. No, their soul does not always agree with the
oppression the Lord sends them. They often experience Asaph's frame,
when he envied the wicked, whose eyes stand out with fatness. But
when faith is in exercise, they cry out: "Truly God is good to
Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart." They would not want
to miss the afflictions that came upon them, because they work a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, and serve to their
salvation. This causes them to lift up their heads in the
afflictions and to sing even through tears, of God's love and
faithfulness. For nothing shall separate them from the love of
Christ; tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, nor famine, nor
nakedness, nor peril, nor sword. For in all these things they are
more than conquerors through Him that loved them. Oh how enduring
that only comfort is, "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord." The worldling has not that comfort and
the unregenerate man knows nothing of it. It is the portion of God's
people, who have been purchased by the precious blood of Christ.
    
    To this is added the Holy Spirit's assurance of eternal life.
Alas, many of God's children lack that assurance. Can they deny
God's work in their hearts? No. Are they strangers of Christ? No.
Was the way of salvation never revealed to them? Yes, but too often
they lack the assurance of their salvation in Christ, although every
exercise of faith is an assurance that drives away all doubt and
often causes concerned souls to call out, "Now I shall never doubt
again." But when that lively moment has passed, the assurance fades
away and they wrestle to be set again as a seal upon the Lord's arm
and heart. And now the Holy Spirit assures His troubled people of
eternal life by an assurance that never leaves, even in the greatest
darkness. Job, when he stood in the gate of death, while God was
hiding His face, Satan was tempting him, and his friends were
suspecting him of hypocrisy, cried out in faith, "I know that my
Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the
earth." Assured of eternal life, he cried out in his great need and
darkness that the Lord would one day reveal that he was not a
hypocrite. "In my flesh shall I see God; Whom I shall see for
myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not a stranger." Beloved,
salvation does not depend upon assurance, but God's people ought to
seek it so that God-dishonoring unbelief shall be destroyed, and the
only comfort in life and death shall fill our souls more and more.
"Wherefore the rather, brethren," says Peter, "give diligence to
make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things, ye
shall never fall." This assurance bears fruit unto true
sanctification as the instructor also says that the Lord "makes me
sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto Him."
    The grace of God makes one die to sin. From the moment the Lord
glorifies His grace in the soul, sin becomes death. Scripture knows
nothing of a dormant regeneration of which the soul itself is
unconscious, and no one notices anything. When Zacchaeus was called
out of the sycamore tree by Christ, he immediately broke with his
sinful life; and everyone who has been quickened wishes to live
perfectly before God. He becomes willing and ready henceforth to
live unto Him, and he not only breaks with sin outwardly, but would
want to remove it, root and all from his heart. But these exercises
of faith are necessary to practice true sanctification; denying our
own powers and embracing Christ by faith and so employing Christ
that He is given to us for righteousness, sanctification and
redemption. And what is the fruit of the assurance of eternal life?
This: that we die unto sin and become ready and willing to live unto
God that the Lord's strength might be made perfect in weakness.
God's children do themselves much harm by resting upon grace
received, whether upon frames or upon experienced justification. The
Holy Spirit teaches us, "When I am weak, then I am strong." Having
assurance of eternal life does not make great Christian, but rather
makes us walk humbly before God, yet knowing that death is swallowed
up in victory. The Lord takes away the fear of death in the
assurance of salvation which we shall one day inherit, when we have
served God's counsel and are taken up in glory.
    
    But how do we obtain this comfort? To that question the
instructor gives an answer when he in the third place speaks of
    
    III

    The sure way by which this comfort is obtained.
    
    He asks:
    
    "How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou,
enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happily?"
    
    Three; the first, how great my sins and miseries are; the
second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries; the
third, how I shall express my gratitude to God for such
deliverance."
    
    Only in this way can this only comfort in life and death be
obtained. The three things mentioned are discussed thus: till the
5th Lord's Day the misery of man is discussed, from Lord's Day 5 -
32 our deliverance is discussed, and from Lord's Day 32 - 52 the
part of gratitude. Since we then expect a more particular
explanation of these three things, we shall here speak only about
the necessity of the knowledge of these matters. That knowledge is
more than mere head knowledge and an assent of our conscience that
we are by nature in a state of misery, can be delivered only by
Christ and therefore owe all thanksgiving and adoration to a Triune
God. That knowledge is also indispensable and we cannot overestimate
our privilege of living with our children under the true doctrine.
However, although we agree perfectly with these matters, although we
believe that God's word teaches them, although in our conscience we
are convinced that this alone is the way to eternal life, yet an
historical knowledge is not sufficient. The common working of the
Holy Spirit can enlighten us, and even make us taste the good Word
of God and the powers of the world to come; nevertheless we remain
with all those gifts, strangers of Christ, and we miss the only
comfort in life and death. Especially in these times it is so
necessary to notice these things. A superficial Christendom shouts
and cheers and assures itself of salvation. They think we make too
much of our sins and misery. We are baptized, we have the promises.
You need only believe and express that faith in your walk and
conversation. What more do you want? What more? Oil in our vessels!
The saving work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, so that our lamps
do not go out at the moment the cry is made, "The bridegroom
comets," so that we shall not, with the foolish virgins, cry in
despair as we knock at the closed door, "Lord, Lord, open to us,"
and then hear, "Verily I say unto you: I know you not." If we are to
obtain the only unfailing comfort, we must have an experimental
knowledge of our misery, deliverance, and gratitude. In spite of all
the mockery and jeering of the nominal Christians of our day, I
emphasize that the sure way by which the only comfort may be
obtained is by an experimental knowledge of the three parts
mentioned. This does not mean that the foundation of our salvation
lies in our experience, but that fallen man can only understand
these things by experience. For the wise and prudent the way in
which God saves sinners is hid. Heaven cannot be bought with money.
God convinces His people efficaciously and irresistibly of their
state of misery and opens unto them the redemption which is in
Christ Jesus, so that He shall receive all the honour.
    
    Now it is not so that those who are converted to God spend a few
years in misery, then glory in their deliverance, and spend the rest
of their life in gratitude. The Lord does not work thus. When He
gives the one, He also grants the other. As the acorn incloses the
whole oak tree, so also in regeneration an entire new creature in
Christ is formed. The leading of the Spirit is necessary, however,
for the consciousness of the soul itself, so that by the exercise of
faith these matters shall be known to the comfort of the soul. When
we are convicted of our sins we are much distressed, although there
are intermittent moments when there is some hope, since we are still
in the land of the living and therefore the door of grace has not
been shut. Then there are moments in which we can pour out our
hearts before God, and the dear Word of God is sometimes opened to
us so that we cry out, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them,
and they were sweeter than honey to my mouth." Then we sing with
liberty, "I love the Lord," and the burden of our guilt and sin
falls from our shoulders. But although this all lies in the root of
the new life, Christ, and hence also the propitiation of our sins by
Him is so hidden, that our soul is troubled because of the justice
of God which we have violated. Then the Holy Spirit teaches His
people experimentally that Christ has purchased and redeemed His
people with His precious blood. In Him is salvation for those that
are totally lost. Would they then not testify about His precious
blood? Their heart goes out to Him. They seek to win Him, for what
else do they need but to be grafted in Him? They cannot meet God
without Christ. With all their "knowledge" of misery, deliverance
and gratitude they would still be lost. Their guilt is still
uncovered, and how can they rest except in the assurance of the Holy
Spirit that they are purchased and redeemed by Christ; reconciled
with God and delivered from the power of Satan, and prepared
according to the good pleasure of the Father for that salvation
which was laid away for them in heaven? What can harm them? When
enjoying this comfort all affliction is light, "a light affliction
which is but for a moment." Soon they shall eternally and perfectly
praise their God and King, and they shall be priests and kings to
serve Him and to reign with Him forever and ever. Already in this
life they have the beginning of that true thankfulness by which God
is glorified in them through His own work, since they have nothing
to bring before the Lord. Thus they learn through their walking by
faith how, yes, how they shall express their gratitude to God, and
they rejoice in the light that is sown for the righteous, of which
we shall now sing: Psalter No. 260 St. 5 and 6.
    
    Application
    
    I would ask your attention for another moment so that we may
apply what we have heard. Let us remind ourselves that by nature we
lack that comfort, yea we seek our comfort elsewhere. We are enemies
of free grace. My unconverted hearer, do ask the Holy Spirit to show
you the state of your misery. You are commonly told to plead upon
God's promises, but is pleading not an act of faith? And that faith
we lack by nature.
    
    Beloved, we are dead in trespasses and sins, and we are in the
power of Satan. Be honest with yourself. Who seeks for God? Who will
seek his salvation in Christ when he is not acquainted with his
state of misery? The Lord Himself says, "They that are whole need
not a physician." In our own opinion we are whole, even though we
confess that we are lost. Why then do we need Christ?
    
    May the Lord convince you. Attend faithfully the pure ministry
of the word. Consider the earnest admonitions. Take the invitations
of the gospel to heart. May it please the Lord to apply them
effectually, so that you may learn to know yourself as entirely
wretched and lost. Only then will you flee to Him Who has purchased
His people with His precious blood, and delivered them from all the
power of the devil. Oh, do not be indifferent as you hear the
preaching of God's word. Do not shake it off as you leave the
church. Consider what is necessary for your salvation. Look with
envy upon God's people, who already in this life enjoy that only
comfort which enables them to take courage in tribulation and
constantly renews their hope of eternal bliss. May the Lord draw you
out of the power of darkness to His marvelous light, so that Christ
might dwell in your hearts by faith. I pray you, do not trust to
emotions or to any disturbance of conscience which many experience
for a short time, but which never leads us to Christ. Do see the
great all decisive difference between the common and the saving
ministrations of the Holy Spirit, so that you will not one day find
that you have been mistaken. When our soul is lost, all is lost.
    
    The only comfort, both in life and death, has a firm foundation.
It is not as a spider's web which shall perish. Oh, afflicted and
sad souls, tossed with tempest and not comforted, the Lord shall lay
thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with
sapphires. Has the Lord convicted you of your sin and misery, may He
also grant that more and more you may lose your trust in all your
pleasant frames and exercises to find peace for your soul. Pray much
for the continual discovering of your state of misery so that you
may find a Mediator for your guilt. We must give up all things
outside of Christ to win Him and to obtain by faith the only comfort
that will hold both in life and in death. May Christ be formed in
you, that your faith might be directed to Him and you might seek to
be found in Him. Look away from yourself more and more. All life is
only in Him Who was dead and is alive forevermore. He will not
forsake His people and His inheritance, but may He grant us to rest
in Him alone. How many of God's people lack the assurance of the
Holy Ghost! Therefore they are often tossed about with doubts
whether they truly are partakers of Him Who by faith has become
precious to them. Would the cause for this lie in the fact that too
much we seek our lives outside of Him? Oh, that we might lose our
life to find it in Him. The Lord comfort you according to the riches
of His grace, but cease not to strive with you until His
righteousness be glorified in you. May God's promises granted you
cause you to plead constantly at the throne of grace. Is He not the
faithful one Whose word is ever true? Persevere then that you may
ravish His heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.
May He assure you by His Holy Spirit of eternal life of which you
are in Him a partaker. May the blood of Christ become more and more
precious to you. When Satan attacks you, remember he is a conquered
enemy. When the world distresses you, when sin stirs within you, may
you by faith in Christ attain the victory.
    
    How richly blessed is that people that have obtained the
assurance of the Holy Ghost by faith, and can testify with Paul, "I
know in Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to
keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day, and that
neither death nor life shall separate us from the love of God in
Christ." Oh people of God, glory in the salvation that you have
received in your Surety and Mediator, and move many to jealousy. May
it be your constant comfort that you are not your own, but belong to
your faithful Savior Jesus Christ.
    
    Do not allow the afflictions of the flesh to discourage you.
They are necessary and shall serve to your salvation. Oh, that we
might always bear our cross willingly after Christ. The strife and
oppression shall not always continue and the Lord Himself determines
their measure and duration. May He sanctify us and grant us to walk
in humility, as an evidence of the gratitude we owe Him. Christ is
your sin and thank offering. May we by faith with self-denial give
honour to God in Christ as a people that was formed to show forth
His praise. Soon we shall be with the Lord eternally. Wherefore
comfort one another with these words. Amen.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
Of the Knowledge of Our Misery
    
Lord's Day 2

Psalter No. 40 st. 1, 2, 3
Read Galatians 2
Psalter No. 111 st. 1 & 4
Psalter No. 362 st. 1
Psalter No. 103 st. 1 & 4


Beloved!
    
    By the ministrations of the Holy Spirit the law has a mortifying
power in God's people. "For I," writes Paul in Gal. 2:19, "through
the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God." Paul is
dead to the law. Formerly he sought life in the fulfillment of the
law in his own power. He was second to none in his zeal to be
justified by the works of the law. If anyone thought he had grounds
to trust in the flesh, that is, in the works of the law, he had more
grounds: "Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the
tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law a
Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the
righteousness which is in the law, blameless." This record he could
freely place before the enemies of free grace. If it were possible
to be saved through the works of the law, Paul surely would have
merited heaven. But that way is cut off; the covenant of works is
broken as far as its ability to save men is concerned. On the path
which Paul trod, he was hastening to his eternal destruction with
all those who place their confidence in the law. How great then was
the grace glorified in him, when the Lord stopped that raging
persecutor of the church of God, yea of Christ himself, on the way
to Damascus, and delivered him from the bonds of the law which held
him under its implacable demand and curse; when God called him from
death to life and changed him from an enemy to a friend. Then he was
dead to the law, that is, free from the dominion of the law, seeking
life therein and justification through the works of the law.
    
    This dying unto the law is necessary for all men in order that
they may by faith seek salvation only by grace. The law has no power
to save lost sinners, for it was weak through the flesh. "For what
the law could not do, God sending His own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." And this
happened through the perfect satisfaction given by Christ to the
law, so that it lost its reigning and condemning power over those
which are in Christ.
    
    Dying to the law, however, does not mean living in sin, free
from the law. On the contrary, dying to the law occurs, says Paul,
"That I might live unto God". The law remains a rule of gratitude, a
rule of living unto God. Therefore the law has a strict demand upon
everyone which must be fulfilled, and it remains a rule of life in
the exercise of gratitude. In the first respect, Paul states that he
has died to the law and that through the law itself. Nevertheless,
the law continues to demand; it pursues those who seek life by it,
it is a schoolmaster who drives on and gives no rest; a revenger of
blood who demands death. This restless working of the law is wrought
in us by the irresistible operation of the Holy Spirit, so that
God's children, cast off from their own powers, are driven to Christ
and obtain peace with God in Him. Thus the knowledge of sin is
obtained out of the law and of that knowledge of sin the second
Lord's Day of our Heidelberg Catechism speaks, to which we now give
our attention.
    
    This Lord's Day reads as follows:
    
Q. 3: Whence knowest thou thy misery?
    
A. Out of the law of God.
    
Q. 4: What does the law of God require of us?
    
A. Christ teaches us that briefly, Matt. 22:37-40, "Thou shalt love
    the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and
    with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first
    and the great commandment; and the second is like unto it, Thou
    shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments
    hang all the law and the prophets."
    
Q. 5: Can't thou keep all these things perfectly?
    
A. In no wise; for I am prone by nature to hate God and my neighbor.
    
    This Lord's Day then deals with the knowledge of our misery.
    
    We shall hear:
    
      I What this knowledge pertains to,
    
     II Out of what this knowledge is obtained;
    
    III What impotence this knowledge reveals.
    
    I
    
    In the first Lord's Day, the way by which the only comfort in
life and death is obtained was clearly shown. To obtain that
comfort, we need knowledge of misery, deliverance and gratitude. The
Catechism now deals with these three matters in succession; hence
about our misery in the first place.
    
    This first matter is of the very greatest importance. No one can
rightly deal with the redemption in Christ unless he teaches the
doctrine of man's misery rightly according to God's Word. Is it any
wonder that our instructor spends three Lord's Days on that doctrine
of the misery of man? In those three Lord's Days the instructor
delves deeper and deeper into the matter. In the second Lord's Day
he speaks of the knowledge, in the third Lord's Day he speaks of the
origin, and in the fourth Lord's Day he speaks of the inevitableness
of our misery. On the side of man, deliverance is wholly impossible.
God can not leave sin unpunished, but will punish them in His just
judgment temporarily and eternally. Only when this is well
understood have we any need for deliverance in Christ. The way by
which the Holy Spirit leads those whom He delivers from the state of
misery corresponds exactly with the way described by the catechism,
in accordance with the Holy Scriptures. The convicted sinner who
must sign his death sentence, seeks too much to escape the just
judgment by fleeing to the broken cisterns of his own powers. He
wants to pay the debts he has made, and better himself, but his
experience is that he increases the debt day by day. Still he would
not give up the attempt, if he did not learn to know how he broke
the covenant in Adam, so that he is conceived and born in sin. Here
lies the origin of his misery that cuts off all hope of deliverance,
and causes him to fall totally helpless under the righteousness of
God.
    
    By nature we are ignorant of our misery, even though we bear the
consequences of it daily. Yea, we bemoan the consequences; but we do
not reach down to its root, namely, sin, until the Holy Spirit
effectually discovers it to us by means of the preaching of the law
of God. How necessary it is then to uncover the state of man's
misery, notwithstanding the bitter enmity that has revealed and
raised itself throughout the ages especially against this doctrine.
If we carry all this opposition to the pure doctrine back to its
beginning, we shall see again that the root lies in the denial of
man's state of death in Adam. Pelagius especially contended bitterly
in the fifth century to ascribe to man a free will and the ability
to believe and attain salvation by his own powers. The
Semi-Pelagians, including the Roman Catholics, followed in his
steps; the Armenians stirred up trouble for a long time in the
Netherlands, especially by their denial of the state of man's
misery. And, oh, that they, after their condemnation only died out!
Alas, the church in the Netherlands is still filled with their
theses. Yea, even those who want to be called Reformed place the
command to believe so strongly in the foreground, that nothing is
said of man's unwillingness or inability. Men must be comforted! Men
must be exhorted to believe in Christ, to accept Him as our Savior,
as if ever any man would come to Christ without having been awakened
to see his misery! We do not want to be saved by grace; the letter
of pardon from heaven has no value for us unless by the quickening
and efficacious work of the Holy Spirit we have received true
knowledge of our misery. When the great Reformers, Luther and
Calvin, explained the doctrine of man's misery in conformity to the
Scriptures, Rome trembled upon its foundations. Never would it have
gained as many adherents among the descendants o$ the Reformers as
it now has, if those descendants had clung to the doctrine that man
by nature lives without God in the world, banished from his Maker
and Creator. As Absalom was banished from David after the murder of
Ammon, so we are banished from communion with God. We are without
God in the world. We are objects of God's holy wrath, subjects of
eternal judgment upon soul and body. Moreover we are become slaves
of sin and Satan; we are born, yea, conceived in the state of
misery, unable, and even unwilling to save ourselves. Why do men
speak of taking hold of the life-line, Christ? One day two men were
drowned in a harbor. A crew member had fallen overboard, and his
skipper jumped in after him to rescue him, but too soon. The
drowning man clung to him, and both of them perished. Had the
skipper only waited until the drowning man had become powerless!
Thus many want to offer Jesus as a Savior to sinners; but unless the
knowledge of our misery has first made us entirely hopeless, we
shall certainly perish with a Christ we have taken.
    
    It is the Holy Ghost who makes us know our misery. He will
convince the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. That
conviction is a personal conviction. "Whence knowest thou thy
misery?" asks the instructor. The devil is the most miserable o$ all
creatures, for him all hope of deliverance is eternally cut off. God
has reserved him in everlasting chains under darkness unto the
judgment of the great day. (Jude 6) The whole creation groaneth and
travaileth in pain, for the earth is cursed because of our sin.
Beside the devil, there is no more miserable creature than an
unconverted person. However, the catechism does not enquire about
our neighbor, but our own misery "thy misery". The Lord deals
personally with His people. By nature we say with the Laodiceans, "I
am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing",
nevertheless it is true of all of us: "Thou knowest not that thou
art wretched and miserable and poor, and blind and naked". Knowledge
of our misery is necessary. Without that knowledge obtained by the
conviction of the Holy Spirit, we will never buy gold tried in the
fire, that we may be rich; and white raiment that we may be clothed
and the shame of our nakedness appear not, and eye salve that we may
see. How necessary it is then for everyone, whether old or young to
receive knowledge of the state of our deep misery, a knowledge not
gained by historical confessions, a knowledge that the Lord Himself
works effectually, by which we say with Ephraim, "I repented; and
after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed,
yea, even confounded."
    
    True knowledge of our misery is to be distinguished from the
mere historical knowledge in that we are unhappy, and from an
intense general conviction of sin which many experience for a time
and consider to be a saving conviction of the Holy Ghost. Although
they are often beset with the pains of hell, which cause them to
leave their gross sins for a longer or shorter time, to join with
God's people, and to use the means of grace more seriously than
before; they lack, however, the true characteristics of the real
knowledge of sin, and they often speak of unscriptural matters and
experiences upon which they build their hope. Above all, they lack
true humility which is a decisive characteristic of grace. The
indispensable knowledge of our misery causes our soul to bow down
under the judgment of God. We ascribe righteousness unto God, even
if He should eternally condemn us. The almost-Christian never
reaches that point, no matter what convictions he may speak of. His
soul fears the punishment of sin, but sin itself he does not know.
God's people, however, learn to hate sin as an affront upon all the
perfections of God, and they justify the judgment of God. However
with much slavish fears they are often possessed, they must justify
God and condemn themselves, so that it shall be fulfilled that
whosoever condemns himself shall not be called into judgment. That
knowledge of our misery causes us to see ourselves as banished from
communion with God, and arouses a godly sorrow which worketh
repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. Our Reformed fathers
were right when they confessed that for God's people missing God is
worse than death, and whoever has learned to know his misery cannot
rest until he knows that he is restored into God's favour and
communion. That knowledge takes us off from all false foundations
and causes the afflicted and poor people to make supplication to
their Judge. It prepares the soul for the revelation of Christ, by
whom the law is disarmed of its curse. How necessary then is the
knowledge of our misery in order that we obtain that only comfort in
life and death.
    
    The knowledge is obtained out of the law. To that we will now
give our attention as we notice in the second place:
    
    II
    
    The means by which this knowledge is obtained.
    
    The instructor asks:
    
    Whence knowest thou thy misery?
    
    Answer: Out of the law of God.
    
    We are placed before the demand of God's law which Christ
summarized for us in Matth. 22:37-40, which summary is quoted in the
second answer of this Lord's Day.
    
    The instructor speaks the clear language of Paul in Rom. 3:20,
"By the law is the knowledge of sin." Of himself Paul said in Rom.
7:7, "I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not
covet." Man's reasoning and common sense, so highly praised in the
world, are not able to reveal to him the state of his deep misery.
The law of God is a mirror in which we by the light of the Spirit
see ourselves, as we have become through sin. It is not the work of
faith to acquaint us with our misery. The law reveals every
transgression and declares us guilty. "Cursed is every one that
continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the
law to do them." Faith, on the other hand, causes the guilty sinner
out of the depth of his misery to seek refuge with God in Christ,
and raises him out of his state of misery.
    
    The knowledge of our misery we therefore obtain out of the law.
God had written that law in Adam's heart and embodied it in the
Covenant of Works; and He demands of each man perfect obedience to
it. After the fall the remnants of the knowledge of that law are not
only in the hearts of all men, (Rom. 2:14) but the Lord implants it
in His people and pronounced it in the ten commandments from Mount
Sinai when He established the Covenant of Grace; which grants
salvation only to God's elect, with His Israel, and gave it a
national form. Certainly there can be no doubt in anyone that
submits to the teachings of Scripture that the covenant established
at Sinai was the Covenant of Grace, made in eternity with the elect
in Christ their representative head, revealed in the first promise,
Gen. 3:15, after which God's favorites were included from time to
time. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David, are clear examples.
    
    When the Lord established the covenant with Israel they were
given the law written in two tables of stone. God did not merely lay
this law upon them, for then they would have been consumed. Moses
received the law out of the hands of Christ, (Acts 7:38) Who by His
active and passive obedience satisfied and glorified the law. His
blood, the blood of the covenant, was sprinkled upon the people. "I
am," thus spoke the Lord, "Jehovah, thy God, the God of the
covenant." Therefore the giving of the Ten Commandments was fringed
by the ceremonial laws, all of which foreshadowed the Christ. No,
indeed, this covenant did not promise only a fruitful Canaan. When
the Lord told Moses that He would send an angel before them to lead
them to the land flowing with milk and honey, that He Himself would
not go with them, Moses pleaded, "If Thy presence go not with me,
carry us not up hence." (Ex. 33:15) Moses' main object was communion
with God. That was the contents of the covenant, communion with God
in Christ Jesus.
    
    The Covenant of grace which not only offers but also promises
salvation to God's elect, attained at Mount Sinai a national form,
not to be confused with the essence of the covenant. In that form
all Israel was brought into a covenant relation, although all Israel
did not partake of that covenant, and all did not enter into that
covenant; wherefore they died in the wilderness because of their
unbelief. This has happened so that we who are externally related to
the covenant because of our birth, baptism and confession, but are
not grafted into the covenant by regeneration, should take warning.
By giving the law at Mt. Sinai in two tables of stone when the
Covenant of Grace was proclaimed, the function of the law is clearly
set forth as it is explained in our catechism, both in the part
about our misery and that of our gratitude. In the latter part it is
explained from commandment to commandment, so that God's children
shall understand all the better who they are and shall remain in
themselves, even after having received grace, and that Christ shall
become more precious and indispensable to them in every part.
However, when dealing with man's misery the instructor discusses the
law in brief! Christ spoke to the Samaritan woman of one sin, but
she felt and acknowledged that He saw through her entire life, and
cried out, "He told me all things that ever I did." Thus it is in
the conviction of an elect sinner. God's omniscience cuts through
the soul as lightning and renders it guilty to all God's
commandments, which are condensed into one. Oh, it is sufficient!
The convicted soul surrenders to the just and equitable sentence
pronounced upon him. He is as a beast before Him; he is entirely
lost, a transgressor of all God's commandments from his youth. That
is the fruit in God's people of the Work of the Holy Spirit which is
powerful in the Covenant of Grace. This caused Paul, although his
life according to the law was irreproachable, to cry out, "For I was
alive without the law once." But God wrote His holy law upon the
tables of his heart, and thereby wrought within him a knowledge of
his state of misery, causing him to testify with all God's people,
"I lived without the law."
    
    The Ten Commandments were written by the hand of God upon two
tables of stone that Moses had hewn, after he had broken the first
ones. Four commandments were on the first table and six on the
second. The Roman Catholic Church had no scruples about lifting the
second commandment out of the law and dividing the tenth commandment
into two, thus removing the commandment against image worship. Thus
there would have been three commandments written on the first and
seven commandments on the second table. However, the first
commandment tells us *Whom* we shall worship: God alone, and the
second *how* God wants to be worshiped; moreover, the order of the
objects we may not covet, according to the tenth commandment, varies
between Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. Which then is the ninth, and
which is the tenth commandment? But Rome would rather mutilate the
law of God than give up its image worship.
    
    And what is the contents of the four commandments of the first
table? "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength."
"With all thy heart" means with your inmost being, the heart, out of
which are the issues of life and not merely in the outward
revelation only. "With all thy soul" means with all affections so
that all your desire is directed toward having the Lord for your
portion, and pleasing the Lord. "With all thy mind" means that your
thoughts are fixed upon Him, to know Him, to know Him in Christ,
diligently searching what He has revealed of Himself and counting
that revelation to be your greatest delight, and partaking of His
love. "With all thy strength" means serving Him with all your
faculties of soul and body. This does not mean that we in our
strength can bring God anything; on the contrary, as we shall soon
see, with our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength we are
transgressors of God's commandments. The demand of the law which God
inscribed upon Adam's heart and which applies to us all, is the
demand of perfect love to God and to our neighbors. The commandments
of the first table are called the great commandment, but not the
greatest; the second commandment, consisting of the six commandments
of the second table, is also great, and is like unto the first,
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
    
    "Thy neighbor!" Who is our neighbor? The Lord Jesus has told us
in the parable of the Good Samaritan, when a lawyer sought to
relieve his embarrassment with the question, "Who is my neighbor?"
The Lord really answered him with another question. Ask the man who
fell among the thieves. Would he have said that priest or that
Levite, who as if they had not seen him walked on without pity? Or
would he have said, "My enemy, a Samaritan, was my neighbor?"
"Therefore do so," says the Lord, "that your enemy must say, 'My
enemy, he is my neighbor'." For is not all mankind made of one
blood? Your neighbor means all people; them you must love as
yourself, with the same love with which you must seek that which is
truly good for yourself, for time and eternity, seeking all that
could serve your soul's salvation. The more you love yourself, the
stronger the demand of the second table of the law is and the more
the violation of that law will testify against us.
    
    Oh, do not think this is a light matter! "On these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets." They stand or fall
with these two commandments. All that God spoke through Moses and
the prophets hangs on the two tables of the law; and is built upon
it as a foundation. He who deals lightly with the ten commandments
mocks the entire revelation of God. Our seeking and desiring to live
according to that law cannot allow us to stand in the judgment. As
we have already stated, Paul lived (externally with the best of
intentions) irreproachably, but he did not know the spiritual
contents of the law. After his inmost being had been revealed to him
he said, "I lived without the law." We also live without the law.
God demands perfect obedience, perfect love toward Him and toward
our neighbor. The demand of the law has not lost its power because
of our fall and our subsequent impotence. The covenant of works is
broken, but only in respect to its ability to justify even one
person. The demand remains the same, "If thou wilt enter into life,
keep the commandments," and that is impossible for us, impossible
because God demands love, and we have none. Now when God's perfect
law is bound upon our hearts, and comes to us with all its demands,
we shall learn to understand that we cannot keep one of his
commandments. That we shall consider in the third place, namely:
    
    III
    
    What impotence this knowledge reveals.
    
    The third question of this Lord's Day directs us to this: The
question asks, "Can't thou keep all these things perfectly?" Answer:
"In no wise, for I am prone by nature to hate God and my neighbor."
    
    Is not that answer much too strong? I am inclined to love my
neighbor, my father and mother and children and brothers and
sisters. Is there not natural love? If it were not so the world
could not continue. Even among people who do not know God's Word and
care nothing about His law, that love is found, and sometimes puts
professors of the truth to shame. That is true, but it does not
contradict what our instructor states. We did not bring that natural
love with us out of the fall of Adam, in which we died the spiritual
death. Rather, it is a gift of God, a gift of God's common grace, by
which God the Father by His work of providence upholds the world
until the end determined by Him. That natural love does not seek the
true well-being of our neighbor. Moreover, what are the inclinations
of our heart? What is the natural life of fallen men? They are
hateful, and hating one another, says Scripture, Titus 3:3. This
becomes very evident when God withdraws His hand and we see it in
the spirits that arise from the bottomless pit, even in our days.
Yea, the state of our misery is so deep that we have not only become
strangers to God, living without God in the world, but haters of
God. "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." (Rom. 8:7)
    
    That is the state by nature of all people, even if we were born
of religious, yea of God-fearing parents, were carried by them into
the church, and lived under the influence of the Word of God from
the time that we were scarcely able to walk, and were commended to
God. The sign and seal of baptism did not remove that enmity, nor
did our conscientious religious and moral life. Adam and Eve not
only sought to flee from God (Gen. 3:8), but God's Word tells us
that every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil
continually. (Gen. 6:5.) Thus the elect were reconciled to God while
they were enemies. (Rom. 5:10.) They, too, were formerly enemies in
their mind by wicked works. (Col. 1:21.) This is the root of our
natural life; we are inclined to all evil. Hence "inclined" does not
mean that there are certain inclinations to evil, and also
counteracting good inclinations. No, all that is in us, all our
inclinations are only to evil, so that we transgress all of God's
commandments with thoughts, words, and deeds. If God's law demanded
only that we do this and refrain from doing that, perhaps by really
exerting ourselves we could go as far as the rich young man who
could say, "All these things have I kept from my youth up." But
God's law demands love, while we hate God and our neighbor, and we
cannot make love, not even natural love. Just think of so many
marriages that are unhappy because love, that root of close
fellowship, is lacking. How then can we with our corrupt, hateful
heart, love God and our neighbor? The law declares us to be guilty
in all the commandments which we transgress with thoughts, words and
deeds. No bitter fountain can give forth sweet water; no soul full
of hatred can bring forth love. "Verily, there is not a just man
upon earth, that does good, and sinneth not," (Eccles. 7:20). As it
is written, "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Rom. 3:10). In
this state of misery man lacks the love and inclination of the heart
toward God, all true knowledge of his Creator and all seeking of His
honour. On the contrary, he wants to do the lust of the devil. He
seeks the world, serves sin, and has self for his main goal. Thus he
hastens to perdition, and drags his neighbor with him. However, the
law continues to demand perfect obedience, and pronounces the curse
upon every fallen son of Adam. The curse is pronounced on Mt. Sinai,
but we are so hardened by nature that no one notices it or is broken
by it.
    
    How necessary it is then that God the Holy Spirit reveals the
demand and the curse of the law and binds it upon our heart. In the
life of those who shall be saved there comes a moment that they are
summoned before the judgment seat of God to give an account, that
their whole life with its best intentions are revealed by the law of
God to be entirely sinful. The ungodly Manasseh, the legalistic
Paul, the religious Lydia, the thief on the cross, however their
lives may have been, the law declares them guilty throughout their
lives. God's omniscience lays their thoughts, words and actions bare
before Him, and they acknowledge that they are justly subject to the
sentence of eternal death. They pray with Daniel, "We have sinned,
and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly and have
rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and Thy judgments:
neither have we hearkened unto Thy servants, the prophets." (Dan.
9:5, 6) The knowledge of our misery is wrought by the law, and
causes us to know ourselves as haters of God and of our neighbor, so
that we can not stand before the righteousness of God. "We are all
as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;
and we all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have
taken us away." (Isa. 64:6)
    
    And still in this revealing of all our sins, in that showing us
our guiltiness in regard to all the commandments, there is a drawing
of the love of God that causes us to flee to Him, and seek
forgiveness with Him. Uncovered by the law of God the convicted
sinner confesses what we now sing out of Psalter No. 363 st. 2:
    
    "Lord, if Thou shouldst mark transgressions,
    In Thy presence who shall stand?
    But with Thee there is forgiveness,
    That Thy Name may fear command."
    
    Application
    
    And now there is the question for each one of us, both old and
young: whether we have rightly learned to know our misery? Hold
fast, beloved, to the pure doctrine of Scripture, never depart from
it. If you stand immovably firm upon what Scripture tells you
concerning the state of man's misery, you will be kept from sliding
to the paths of falsely imagining that a person can be converted,
even if he or someone else cannot notice anything of it, or that the
promises of God are given to you, which you as being in the Covenant
of Grace, only have to accept. By virtue of our relationship to Adam
we are born in a broken Covenant of Works, and in that covenant we
are under the curse and wrath of God. Only when God the Holy Spirit
cuts us off from Adam and grafts us into Christ, Who is the Head of
the Covenant of Grace, as Paul clearly teaches in Rom. 5:12-19, then
alone do we become children of the covenant and partakers of the
covenant promises, which God has in eternity given to the elect in
Christ. Regarding man's eternal state, there are only two covenants;
and only by regeneration a child of Adam enters the Covenant of
Grace. Although by birth and baptism we stand in an outward relation
to the covenant, we are truly in this covenant when God's grace is
glorified in us, and not merely by an "offer of grace." We are dead
or alive; we live for ourselves, or we are translated from death
into life; we are in Christ, or without Christ, one or the other. By
nature, that is, as we are born, we are without God in the world,
and without Christ, and without hope for eternity. Alas, all vain
hope shall soon fall away, when we must die and appear before God's
judgment seat. Do ask yourself whether there ever was a time in your
life at which your state of misery was revealed to you. Was there
ever an hour in which all your sin was placed before your eyes, and
you could subscribe to your death sentence as a transgressor of all
God's commandments?
    
    How many are there among us who although they agree with the
doctrine of man's misery, have never learned to know themselves as
utterly wretched and lost before God? How many have never felt the
depth of their misery and have never seen themselves banished from
the communion with God because of their sin? They lack, therefore,
the seriousness of purpose, to find refuge in Christ and to seek in
Him their righteousness before God. My dear fellow traveler to
eternity, I would cry to you with the words of the apostle, "Awake
thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give
thee light." You are thoroughly convinced that a wonder of God must
be wrought in your soul, shall it be well with you. May that
conviction remain with you; but do not allow it to lull you into a
false security, into living at ease. May the Lord impress the clear
and true doctrine of our misery upon your heart before the time of
grace shall have passed. Do consider that your impotence is no fig
leaf behind which you can hide; for our impotence is caused by our
sin, and according to that sin we shall be judged. May God bind upon
our hearts the truth that we are haters of Him and of our neighbors,
and that we transgress God's commandments with thoughts, words and
deeds. Then we will receive a true knowledge of our misery and we
will learn to take refuge in the last Adam, in Whom deliverance out
of our misery is possible.
    
    Many trust in common convictions, which however, never led to
true humility before God, even though their conscience was troubled
for a while for fear of punishment, and a Psalm verse came to their
thoughts, from which they concluded that their soul was saved. Poor
people! Do ask for a Holy Spirit conviction which alone can reveal
your misery to you and can lead you to Christ. The doctrine of our
misery is of so great significance. It makes us understand that we
have not and cannot keep even one of God's commandments; that we are
enemies, haters of God, and of our neighbor; that we can never show
that love which is the fulfillment of the law, and which God demands
of us. Before death comes to you as a traveler, and your lot shall
be cast for eternity, do try yourself by this: whether you have been
changed from a hater to a lover of God. That is a determining mark
of the grace of God that we condemn ourselves as being a
transgressor of all God's laws, and justify God if He should condemn
us eternally. That would I bind upon your hearts lest you should be
deceived in the last day.
    
    Ask the least among God's children, those who are beginners on
that way, and they shall say, "I have transgressed all God's
commandments." When God stopped them on their way of sin, caused
them to flee from shows and taverns, or shot them as a bird out of
their tree of self-righteousness, their own way and conversation was
revealed to them as all sin. Their whole life was a transgression of
God's commandments, and, however much they exerted themselves, they
were unable to give satisfaction to the law of God. Are there any
among us who know themselves thus guilty before God, who can find no
rest for their souls, even though there are moments when the love of
God throbs in their heart and His loving kindness causes them to bow
in the dust before Him? Oh, beloved, may you be humbled more and
more by the law of God, so that you will lose all hope in yourself
and place all your hope in Him, Who shall not forsake the work of
His hands. "Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring
forth?, saith the Lord. Shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the
womb? saith thy God." Oh, do not give up hope, but desire to know
your guilt and sin more and more to be justified and sanctified in
Christ before God. Knowledge of our misery is indispensable, but in
that knowledge itself is no ground or hope. It serves to drive us to
Christ. May the Lord draw you with His rich promises, "He shall
spare the poor and needy, and shall save the soul of the needy." May
He cause you to be truly poor and needy. May the law be a
schoolmaster to drive you to Christ and give you no rest than where
your soul shall rest in God. Do not build up one another upon sweet
frames; do not rest upon the judgment of people who say, the Lord
has begun a good work in you, but seek after the assurance of your
union with Him, Who was sent by the Father, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons. Amen.
    
    
    
    
    
The Dreadful Cause of Man's Misery
    
Lord's Day 3
    
    
Psalter No. 416 st. 4
Read Romans 5:12-31
Psalter No. 140 st. 2,3
Psalter No. 415 st. 8
Psalter No. 387 st. 5,6


Beloved:
    
    In Romans 5:4 the apostle Paul calls Adam a figure of Him who
was to come, namely, of Christ. In what respect can Adam be called a
figure of Christ? Certainly not in His disobedience and fall. No,
indeed, for the Messiah was that holy thing which was born of Mary
and learned obedience by the things which He suffered. (Hebr. 5)
Adam was a figure of Christ as Covenant Head.
    
    As Adam was the head of the Covenant of Works, so Christ is the
head of the Covenant of Grace. In the Covenant of Works Adam
represented all men who were included in him as their father; Christ
in the Covenant of Grace represented all those who were included in
Him by virtue of election. There are those who teach that the
Covenant of Grace differs in nature and essence from the Covenant of
Redemption, and thus they teach the doctrine of the three, instead
of two, covenants, although Scripture teaches emphatically in Gal.
4:24, "These are the two covenants," and our Reformed fathers have
therefore taught likewise. It is therefore without doubt that Christ
as "the last Adam" is the Head of the Covenant of Grace. It was
demanded of Him that He fulfill all the conditions of the covenant
for all those that were given to Him by the Father, while all the
promises of the covenant are yea and amen in Him, because they were
promised to His elect in Him. It would certainly be no covenant of
grace if even one condition had to be fulfilled by the recipients,
and the promises of the covenant would never be fulfilled if they
were made dependent upon man's obedience. Because of the covenant
relationship, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to God's elect.
They are reckoned in Christ from eternity and they actually enter
the covenant by regeneration and by being grafted into Christ.
    
    In Adam, however, all men are included in and were brought forth
in the Covenant of Works; they were all reckoned in him, and in
their covenant head they all fell away from God. The origin of man's
misery lies in the fall, as the third Lord's Day of our Catechism
plainly teaches us. We would now ask your attention to that Lord's
Day.
    
    Lord's Day 3
    
Q. 6: Did God then create man so wicked and perverse?
    
A. By no means; but God created man good, and after his own image,
    in true righteousness and holiness, that he might rightly know
    God his Creator, heartily love him and live with him in eternal
    happiness to glorify and praise him.
    
Q. 7: Whence then proceeds this depravity of human nature?
    
A. From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and
    Eve, in Paradise; hence our nature is become so corrupt, that
    we are all conceived and born in sin.
    
Q. 8: Are we then so corrupt that we are wholly incapable of doing
    any good, and inclined to all wickedness?
    
A. Indeed we are; except we are regenerated by the Spirit of God.
    
    In this third Lord's Day the dreadful cause of man's misery is
shown, and we are told:
    
    I That the cause may not be imputed to God,
    
    II That the cause lies in man's willful disobedience,
    
    III That the cause does not make man's deliverance out of his
    misery impossible.
    
    I
    
    By the law, then, as the second Lord's Day teaches us, is the
knowledge of sin, a knowledge which by the conviction of the Holy
Spirit discovers to us such a depth of misery that we must
acknowledge that we are prone by nature to hate God and our
neighbor. Yet that convinced sinner would never flee to Jesus if God
did not cut off every attempt to improve himself and to satisfy
God's justice by showing him the source of his misery so that he
must say with David, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin
did my mother conceive me." In this Lord's Day we must now consider,
the instructor comes to that source of our misery.
    
    In the first place the catechism removes all the blame from God.
The cause of our misery is not in God. He has made man good and in
His image, perfectly good, both as to soul and body. If anything had
been lacking in the creation of man, the blame of man's fall would
come upon God. But it is not so. All of creation, including man, lay
open for God's inspection. And what was the result? "And God saw
everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good." Even of
the angels it is not written that they were created after God's
image and likeness, although they are called "sons of God."
    
    Of the Son of God, Scripture says that He is the express image
of His person. He could say, "He that has seen Me has seen the
Father," because the full essence of God is in Him as it is in the
Father, and in the Holy Spirit. But man is created in God's image
and likeness. It has pleased the Lord to create some traces of His
attributes in the soul of man, although God's attributes themselves
cannot be communicated to any creature, because the full essence of
God is in each attribute. But in creation the Lord granted man some
likeness to His image. Likeness and image can, therefore, not be
separated; although man, having been created in God's image, can
ascend to the likeness of God. Image and likeness express the same
thought namely that man was created in the likeness of God's image,
consisting in knowledge, righteousness and holiness. Paul describes
it very clearly when in Eph. 4: 24 and in Col. 3:10 he says that
God's people are renewed after the image of Him that created him.
God's image then, as it was created in man, is renewed in the elect,
and that image consists, as the above mentioned texts show, in
knowledge, righteousness and holiness, "that he might rightly know
God his Creator, heartily love Him and live with Him in eternal
happiness to glorify and praise Him."
    
    By virtue of his divine creation then, man was a prophet, a
priest, and a king. As a prophet he rightly knew his Creator; he
knew Him as the only, true, Triune God; he knew Him in His
omnipotence, wisdom, righteousness and love. In the state of
rectitude man needed no grace; the knowledge of grace in Christ
could only be wrought in the heart of fallen man. God was not
unknown to Adam. He was the God of his joy and delight, whom, if he
had not fallen, he would have honored and praised to all eternity
with all his posterity.
    
    Furthermore, Adam was a priest who loved his Creator heartily
and sacrificed himself and all his affections, while already as a
king he reigned on earth, and one day would live with Him in eternal
happiness to praise and glorify Him without any possibility of
interruption. Adorned with God's image, man was therefore immortal,
created for the glory of God.
    
    The image was so much a part of the nature of man, that man in
his whole life showed himself to be an image-bearer of God. Men
speak therefore of this image in its narrower and wider sense. In
the narrower sense it is entirely lost by sin; but in the wider
sense there are left, after the fall, a few remains, consisting of
an inborn knowledge of God, so that every man, whoever he may be,
has a consciousness of the existence of God.
    
    The heresy of Pelagius then is utterly condemnable; for he
considered the image of God merely to consist in man's upright
posture and in his dominion over the animals, while he considered
man with God's image mortal. Does not God expressly state that death
is the result of sin? "The wages of sin is death" says Paul in Rom.
6: 23.
    
    The Roman Catholic Church also errs in seeing the image of God
as added to created man. The creation of man itself was done in the
image of God, and when that was lost the nature of man was marred,
and not merely something additional lost.
    
    We must emphatically reject the error of all Pelagians and
Semi-Pelagians, and their offspring, which states that man was
created neither good nor bad, but as a sheet of clean paper (tabula
rasa), so that what is put on that paper shall determine whether it
is good or bad. God created man in an active, moral righteousness.
By virtue of his creation he was good, perfectly good, an
image-bearer of God, placed in a glorious state, and living in
immediate communion with the Triune God. He was subject to neither
sickness nor death; he knew neither grief nor terror. Indeed in that
state he was able to obtain eternal life by being obedient, an even
higher degree of glory, and an everlasting confirmation of that
blessed state was possible for him, so that he could no more fall
from that state, neither he nor his posterity.
    
    Moreover the Lord descended so low that He, the eternal God,
made a covenant with His creature. With Adam God made the Covenant
of Works, in which He promised life upon obedience, but also
threatened death upon transgression. It is true Genesis 2 does not
relate in detail the establishment of that covenant, as Genesis 3
does not mention the Covenant of Grace explicitly. Moses, however,
does narrate the parts of the covenant. God did not want to be
served as a tyrant for fear of punishment, therefore the threat of
death, and the promise of life were included. Therefore throughout
all the Scripture life is promised upon the fulfillment of the law.
"Which if a man do, he shall live in them," said Moses in Lev. 18:5.
To the rich young man Christ said, "If thou wilt enter into life,
keep the commandments," and Paul speaks repeatedly of the obedience
that is of the law: see Rom. 3:27, 10:5, Gal. 3:12. All these places
refer to the fact that upon the fulfillment of the law, which fallen
man cannot attain to anymore, God promised life in the Covenant of
Works. Hoses also speaks of that covenant made with Adam and in him
with all his posterity, when he reproves Israel for their
unfaithfulness, saying, "They like men have transgressed the
covenant." (Hos. 6:7) In this covenant then, Adam was able to obtain
life which was irremovable. For although he was created perfectly
good, God had left him the possibility of falling which would have
been taken away, had he fulfilled the law.
    
    Hence it is quite wrong to say that the cause of man's misery
should lie in his creation, and yet it seems so natural for our
fallen nature to cast the blame upon God. This lay in the words of
Adam, "The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the
tree." And those who dare not say it openly as the heretics we
mentioned, secretly cast the blame upon the Lord. Thus we seek to
hide behind our impotence. With our Reformed doctrine we feel sorry
for ourselves, but do not consider it our own fault. We acknowledge,
"Such is our miserable state", but we go on to hell with our eyes
open. "I did not make myself, nor can I convert myself," we say, and
with a false passivity and impotence we reject the invitation of the
gospel. Therefore this word of Jesus shall one day be applied to us,
"If I had not come and spoken unto them they had no sin, but now
they have no cloak for their sin." The false doctrine would never
have spread as it has from age to age, if the seeds were not in
everyone's heart. But whatever inventions men have sought out, God
has created man after His image and is not the cause of man's
misery. He was supplied with all the abilities to remain standing,
to lay aside all temptations of the devil and to keep the
commandment given in the Covenant of Works. That commandment was not
grievous. One would be more inclined to ask whether the commandment
not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not
too easy, in relation to the penalty of death that would rest upon
Adam and all his posterity eternally. We shall soon see that this
commandment was not too light, but it is evident that the Lord did
not demand of man something that he could not fulfill. He was
created to the glory of God, and in the state of rectitude it was
his delight and pleasure to glorify and praise his God and Creator,
and in eternity he would serve him perfectly in eternal blessedness,
if only he would acknowledge God as God. Who can describe that
glorious and perfect state in which God had created man! Hence God
is certainly not the cause of man's misery. Man is lost because of
his own sin, and lies lost because of his own sin. Now hear in the
second place how the Instructor explains this as he states
    
    II
    
    that the cause of our misery lies in man's willful disobedience.
    
    This we are taught in Question 7:
    
    "Whence then proceeds this depravity of human nature?"
    
    Answer: "From the fall and disobedience of our first parents,
Adam and Eve, in Paradise; hence our nature is become so corrupt
that we are all conceived and born in sin."
    
    As we speak of man's fall, we must notice:
    
    (a) the work of God in His decree and government,
    (b) the work of the devil in his dreadful temptation,
    (c) the work of man in his willful disobedience.
    The fall was not outside of God's decree.
    
    God not only knew from eternity that man would fall, but He
decreed it. He knows all things by virtue of His decree, and with
assurance that it shall be so. Augustine already held over against
Pelagius that sin was preceded by God's decree. Has God then willed
the fall? Yes, although He hates and punishes sin, He has willed its
manifestation, so that He would glorify himself in rational
creatures both in His righteousness, and in His mercy. With holy
caution we tread into this realm, and we firmly aver above all that
God did not work sin, but man freely fell away from God and to
Satan. And yet what man freely did was not outside of God's counsel
but was determined by Him in eternity. "It is wicked to say that God
did foreknow the fall of Adam but had not foreordained it by an
eternal decree. The most insignificant things in nature do not occur
without God's will and decree. (Matth. 10:30) God has also decreed
such works as are sin." (W. Perkins Works, p. 416.) Or did the
crimes of Judas Herod, and Pontius Pilate occur without God's
decree? Certainly not. In Matth. 26:24 Christ Himself says not only
that He is going to die, but that He is going "as it is written of
Him." The prophets had described His death and the description was
made by the revelation of God's counsel to them. Judas had to betray
Him; the Sanhedrin had to lay hold on Him; Pontius Pilate had to
violate justice. All this had to happen for God had determined all
the details unchangeably in His decree from eternity. Who can still
have any doubt regarding God's decree determining sin? When Peter
was released by the Sanhedrin he said, "For of a truth against Thy
holy Child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius
Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered
together for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined
before to be done." (Acts 4:27, 28) All the dreadful things
therefore committed against the holy Child Jesus, which placed an
eternal burden of guilt upon its perpetrators, were done according
to the determinate counsel of God. If so, would not the fall of Adam
also be included in that determinate counsel? God not only foreknow,
but also decreed it. Yea, even in the fall we see God's permission
and guidance, for without these the devil could not have tempted
Eve, nor have made use of the serpent.
    
    The counsel of God determined how and in which ways and by what
means God would in His perfect sovereignty glorify Himself in His
creatures in time. His glory is the main purpose; but fallen man
rebels with all his might against giving God the glory. We cannot
and will not let God be God. Nevertheless He does according to His
will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth.
Who has resisted His will? Would we find fault with God's eternal
decree, or challenge His sovereignty which decided to glorify His
justice in man, who, regardless of God's decree, willingly fell away
from Him, and His mercy in Christ in those whom He predestined to
salvation, and draws out of their fall in the time of His good
pleasure? Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replies against God? He
is sovereign in His work and in His decree. He decreed, I repeat,
the fall of man and did not allow it to come to pass without Him.
Nevertheless, not God, but the devil tempted man to eat from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Let us then notice the work
of the devil in his dreadful temptation.
    
    Devils are fallen angels. God has created all the angels in one
moment, probably on the first day. They stood before God with their
thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousands, each for
himself, not represented in a covenant head. Not all, but a part of
the angels fell, and those fallen angels, the rejected ones, are the
devils whose leader is Satan. In order to strike at God he cast
himself upon man who was created after God's image. It would have
been easy to turn aside this attack, for the devil could use only
simplest means. In the form of a serpent over whom man had complete
dominion, Satan could come with his attack upon the testing
commandment, which was not heavy and which was known to man both as
to its content and its threat. Certainly the devil's position was
weak compared to that of God's image-bearer.
    
    A serpent was Satan's tool, a real created serpent, which was
more subtle than any beast of the field. It was not subtle in an
evil sense as we sometimes use the word, for the earth had not yet
been cursed, but it was subtle in the sense that it was not easily
surprised. This characteristic of the serpent was well-known to both
Adam and Eve, and made it a useful tool for Satan. The devil, then,
in the serpent, turns to Eve. Not Eve, but Adam was the head of the
Covenant of Works. Even before Eve was created Adam had received the
testing command, and Eve knew it through Adam. Although Eve had the
ability and the necessary gifts to remain standing, the devil chose
her as the most suitable prey, to cause Adam to fall through her.
    
    Satan first sought to stir up doubt regarding God's command by
asking, "Has God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"
His first attempt seemed to have some success in that Eve in
answering him omitted the words "of the knowledge of good and evil"
which were necessary for the maintenance of God's justice. Upon
Eve's answer the devil dared to respond to God's expressed threat
with the brazen lie, "Ye shall not surely die," and he cast upon God
the accusation of uttering threats merely to keep man in submission,
saying, "For God does know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your
eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and
evil." What? Would man be as God? Independent of his Creator? He
himself the lord and master? And that to attain higher bliss?
Impossible! Loosed from God he must die. The devil's word is
entirely a lie. God knew what was good and evil for Adam and Eve,
and their greatest happiness lay in submitting to Him in perfect
obedience. They already knew good as distinct from evil; Eve knew
what God had commanded and forbidden, even of the punishment
threatened upon sin she was not ignorant. The word of the devil does
not simply mean, "Then you shall know also what evil is," but "ye
shall be as God, loose from His authority, you shall yourself
determine what is good and what is evil." But the temptation to be
himself is the seduction to man's deepest misery. Not being as God,
not standing beside, not being our own, but being under God, perfect
obedience to God, that is happiness for men. It is as the Catechism
says, "That I am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior
Jesus Christ."
    
    Satan first tempted Eve by stirring up doubt regarding God's
law, then by speaking a lie and finally by casting a false
accusation upon God's love. And he still works thus. What happened
in Paradise will never be repeated, man fell away from God only
once. But the devil still goes about with the same devices and lies;
he still portrays the service of God as tyranny. Many fell into his
snares and went into the public service of sin. Into many hearts he
still whispers, "Your eyes shall be opened," just to shut them for
God's Word and to draw them away from the pure doctrine of God's
testimonies. The devil is a murderer from the beginning.
    
    But how could God permit the devil to attack Eve, and that by
using a serpent, one of His creatures? Was God not setting a snare
for man into which he fell? No, the opposite is true. Unconsciously
all irrational and lifeless creatures obey God's will. Man stood
above them all. How would man's superiority above the rest of
creation be seen? In obeying his Creator, not because he could not
do otherwise, but freely, because of love to God. And that willing
obedience could only be shown when man was placed before a choice of
submitting to God or falling away from Him. Now then, man was given
that choice and he freely and willingly broke away from God and
chose Satan for his lord and master. That is the work of man in the
fall.
    
    "The depravity of human nature," says the instructor, "proceeds
from the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve in
Paradise."
    
    Eve gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. Instead
of correcting her, Adam committed the same disobedience, willingly,
against better knowledge. But was not the fall decreed? Yes, but
this decree did not influence Adam nor Eve to transgress, for they
did not know about the decree, nor did it take away man's
responsibility for his actions. Esau was a reprobate, but did not
that profane person, mocking about his salvation, willingly sell his
birthright for a pottage of lentils? Of Judas it had been prophesied
that according to God's eternal decree he should betray Christ, but
did he not confess in his despair, "I have betrayed innocent blood?
I, I have done it!"? According to the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and
the people of Israel crucified Christ, but Peter said openly to the
rulers of the people, "This (Christ) is the stone which was set at
nought of you builders." God's decree does not remove man's
responsibility for his deeds nor did it remove the responsibility
from Adam and Eve when they ate from the forbidden tree. Moreover,
we hope to mention it again in the fourth Lord's Day, God had given
man all the powers necessary to remain standing. He willingly fell
away from God.
    
    Do not think the eating from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil was a minor sin; "a narrow split," as Pelagius ridiculed
it, by which sin came upon all men. No, indeed, it was not. In
transgressing God's command man made God a liar. Satan's word, "Thou
shalt not die", was in direct opposition to God's sentence, "Thou
shalt surely die." One of the two must be a lie, and now man
believed Satan, thereby making God a liar. Furthermore, man drew
himself away from God. "But being in honour, he understood it not,
neither knew his excellency, but willingly subjected himself to sin,
and consequently to death and the curse, giving ear to the words of
the devil." (Belgic Confession, Art. 14.) Our whole nature is
corrupt; we are all conceived and born in sin.
    
    The sin committed in Paradise did not affect only Adam and Eve.
The woman ate and fell for herself, but Adam was the head of the
Covenant of Works, in which he represented all his posterity. In him
they all stood, in him they all fell. Not by two, but by one man sin
came into the world, and death by sin, by one sin, as Paul says many
times in Rom. 5. Not all the sins of Adam's lifetime are imputed to
his posterity, but the one sin of one man. Therefore the imputation
of the fall is due to the covenant relationship. Our relationship to
Adam is two-fold, a natural and a covenantal relation. If the
imputation were because of the first relationship, then Eve's sin
would also be ours, and then sin would have come into the world not
by one man, but by two. Paul, however, teaches us it came by one
man, and in that one man our nature is corrupted, so that we are all
conceived and born in sin.
    
    It is very important to understand this for thus the imputation
of righteousness is also because of the covenant relationship. Where
then are they who deny Christ as the Head of the Covenant of Grace?
Yea, where are they? From the covenant relationship comes the
imputation of sin, as the imputation of the righteousness of Christ
to the elect also comes from the covenant relationship. Our nature
is corrupt; we are all conceived and born in sin; we are the objects
of God's wrath; yea, from the time of our conception, we lie under
the curse of God and in the power of sin, and thus we are born. And
when the Holy Spirit leads His people into Adam's breach of the
covenant, and teaches them more about it through deeper discoveries
of their state of misery, they lose all hope of improving themselves
to which end they were working day after day; but their hope was
continually put to shame. They are cut off from the expectation of
being saved by their works; they learn to know themselves as
condemnable before God and have no more expectation. Oh, they are
now totally lost.
    
    And still, as we shall finally consider:
    
    III
    
    The cause of man's misery does not exclude the possibility of
his being saved out of that misery.
    
    We are incapable of doing any good, and inclined to all
wickedness. Already in the second Lord's Day we considered that "the
carnal mind is enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be." They who urge men to accept Jesus
should consider that John calls men darkness, and man is but a slave
of sin and can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven.
All our thoughts and words and deeds are enmity against God; we will
not and can not come to Christ to be saved in Him.
    
    And yet deliverance out of our deep misery is not impossible,
for the Catechism says, "except we are regenerated by the Spirit of
God." Regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is a new
creation, a resurrection from the dead, which God works in us,
without our aid. (Canons of Dordt.) God wants to raise His elect
again out of their deep fall in Adam. He calls them from death. This
work of God is not done without man's knowledge. An unconscious
regeneration of which no one, not even the subject himself knows
anything, does not exist. Sin works in us, and we are aware of that,
"and would man then be unaware," asks Calvin, "of that great work of
God, by which he becomes a new creature in Christ?" That is
impossible. But that true regeneration without which no man shall
see or enter the kingdom of God is indispensable. It enlightens the
mind darkened by sin, it renews the will; it is a recreation
according to the image of Him Who has created us. With the renewed
faculties of the soul, God's people shall hate sin and flee from it
to be pleasing to God in Christ Jesus. Totally lost and miserable,
without any hope of improvement, brought to an end of his own
attempts to please God, they must cry out with the poet of Psalm 25:
(Psalter No. 415, st. 8)
        "Turn Thou unto me in mercy;
        Have compassion on my soul.
        I am sore distressed and lonely;
        Waves of trouble o'er me roll."
    
    Application
    
    My beloved, has the fall of Adam ever become your fall? You all
agree that God has made man upright, according to His image and
likeness, perfectly good, and by establishing with him a Covenant of
Works opened the way for him to obtain eternal life that can never
be lost, that salvation which would be no less than the salvation
now prepared for the elect in Christ. Man would then not be saved by
grace, but his perfect knowledge and his abiding in the immediate
presence of God would have caused him to partake of perfect bliss,
to the glory of God. It is true that some have denied that man could
attain to a higher plane of glory than that in which he was created,
but the promise of life in the covenant with Adam, given to him and
his posterity, shows the fallacy of denying the possibility of
attaining higher and incorruptible glory. It is our confession in
which we have been instructed according to the Word of God from our
youth, that the cause of our deep misery does not lie in God, but in
our willful disobedience. We all execute God's will, but we bear the
responsibility for our actions, also for our fall. For Adam's fall
is our fall; he was our covenant head, and we stood, but also fell
in him. I beg of you, hold to the true doctrine delivered to us by
our fathers. I would urge our young men and women especially to do
so. Search the old writers, become familiar with them. It is not too
much trouble and will benefit you greatly. Do not use your time
reading books that require no thought, that draw you away from the
truth instead of confirming you in it. The clamor for light
literature, either so-called Christian or non-Christian, has entered
the church. It is one of the signs that the quest for the old and
tried truth, and hence also for the salvation of our souls is
disappearing. Have we not a doctrine that not only teaches us death
in Adam by our own sin, but also the possibility to be delivered
from our misery? God will by means of His Word regenerate children
of Adam to life eternal. Peter calls this living and everlasting
Word, the incorruptible seed of regeneration. May the Lord bless it
to your soul. Although no one is too old to be converted, and no one
has sinned against God too long, it usually pleases the Lord to draw
His people from their deep fall in their youth and to work the new
life within them. Do not spend your precious time in the service of
sin. Consider always your guilt, your fall in Adam, so that you will
not rest in your works and historical faith, but may the realization
of the need of regeneration cause you to set your heart upon the
truth. May the Lord by the working of the Holy Spirit cut you off
from Adam, and give you an interest in Christ.
    
    That is His work in regeneration and the great privilege of
those that cannot keep alive their own soul. That regeneration is
not unconscious as we have shown in that sense that it has no
noticeable fruit, but it is difficult for some children of God to
know whether or not they are regenerated. Perhaps there are some
among us who, when the characteristics of that new life are set
forth, open their hearts before the Lord, and admit that they are
not strangers to godly sorrow for sin acknowledging the justice of
God in imposing three-fold death as the punishment of sin, and love
to God's people, though they be despised by the world. They cannot
humble themselves deeply enough before God because of their sin. But
how shall they be delivered from their sin and misery? They cannot
pay the ransom, and no man can save them. Is this not the burden of
your life, your worry that exceeds the cares of life, and causes you
to cry day and night for a way of salvation? Ask the Lord for
discovering grace. He will show you your fall in Adam, for there
lies the cause of your troubles and your wandering outside of
Christ, that you never saw yourself as cut off in your deep fall.
Certainly it is not possible to plant a graft into a stock before it
is cut off from the old stock. Likewise, no soul can be grafted into
Christ if it is not cut off from Adam. This act is done by the Lord
in the quickening; but for the consciousness of the soul the
discovering work of the Holy Spirit is indispensable. God's people
can not live on inferences nor determine their state by marks they
find within themselves. On the contrary, it becomes more and more
impossible to be saved. Even those to whom the way of salvation in
Christ was revealed, and to whom He gave His promises, so feel the
lack of their conscious assurance in Christ that they often lose the
ground upon which they could rest to meet God. Believe me, beloved,
the doctrine of the fall is an article of great importance,
doctrinally, but also experimentally. The church stands or falls
with this doctrine, and that which is confessed according to the
Scriptures, is experienced by God's people. Thus it is necessary to
know we are cut off from Adam. Then Adam's fall becomes our fall,
and Adam's willful disobedience becomes our willful breaking of the
Covenant of Works. Seek for the cutting off of your life that you
may be built up in Christ. Let the strict preaching that says you
are guilty in Adam please you, and the Lord grant you to glory for
your salvation in Him Who was dead and lives forever; the last Adam,
in Whom all shall live who are given Him by the Father; although,
reckoned in their first covenant head Adam, they are children of
wrath. May He make you perfect and establish you and cause you by
faith with gladness and appropriation to testify, "But now is Christ
risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of
the dead. For as in Adam all (that is all that are reckoned in him)
die, even so in Christ shall all (that is all that are reckoned in
Him) be made alive." Amen.
    
    
    
    
    
God's Righteousness Vindicated Against Fallen Man
    
Lord's Day 4
    
    Psalter No. 12 st. 1, 2, 3
    Read Rom. 1:16-32
    Psalter No. 244 st. 3, 4
    Psalter No. 338 st. 1, 2
    Psalter No. 83 st. 1, 2, 3
    
    
Beloved:
    
    In the saving conviction wrought by the Holy Spirit, knowledge
of God and the knowledge of self go together to humble the people of
God before the Lord. There is also a common working of the Spirit,
but that does not rest upon the reconciliation by Christ's
sacrifice, and it lacks the characteristic of humility; the sinner
remains in the state of misery in which he willfully cast himself in
his covenant head Adam. Cain, who could not deny his guilt anymore,
hardened himself, and lacking humility of soul and the refuge in the
blood that speaketh better things than that of Abel, cried out, "My
punishment is greater than I can bear." Esau found no place of
repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears, having tears
of bitterness but not humbled by his guilt. Judas acknowledged, "I
have sinned, betraying innocent blood," but in despair he went out
and hanged himself. There are common convictions of sin in the
reprobate and in the elect before their conversion which many take
for saving convictions, but these convictions never cause a man to
come to God as a poor lost sinner with true contrition to seek
deliverance in Christ, even though some of them may, as Orpah, have
a degree of respect and love to God's people. The true knowledge of
God and of self is lacking however, and it is very necessary,
especially in these days, to give our attention to this matter, lest
we deceive ourselves for an all-decisive eternity.
    
    True conviction summons us before the judgment seat of God and
works in us a deep humiliation, so that we know ourselves to be
guilty of all God's commandments. It cuts off all hope of
improvement by showing us our deep fall in our covenant head Adam,
by which we became incapable of doing any good and inclined to all
evil. It causes us to acknowledge God's justice even though it would
condemn us forever. This true humiliation causes us to seek refuge
in God and to beseech Him for mercy. The deeper the discovering work
of the Holy Spirit is, the more the soul justifies the Lord, and
discards all excuses. This our instructor shows us according to
God's Word in the 4th Lord's Day of the Heidelberg Catechism.
    
    Lord's Day 4
    
Q. 9. Does not God then do injustice to man, by requiring from him
    in his law, that which he cannot perform?
    
A. Not at all; for God made man capable of performing it; but man,
    by the instigation of the devil, and his own willful
    disobedience, deprived himself and all his posterity of those
    divine gifts.
    
Q. 10: Will God suffer such disobedience and rebellion to go
    unpunished?
    
A. By no means; but is terribly displeased with our original as well
    as actual sins; and will punish them in his just judgment
    temporally and eternally as he has declared, "Cursed is every
    one that continueth not in all things, which are written in the
    book of the law, to do them."
    
Q. 11: Is not God then also merciful?
    
A. God is indeed merciful, but also just; therefore his justice
    requires that sin which is committed against the most high
    majesty of God, be also punished with extreme, that is, with
    everlasting punishment of body and soul.
    
    In this Lord's Day God's righteousness is vindicated against
fallen man.
    
      I Notwithstanding his inability to fulfill the law's demand;
    
     II In the outpouring of God's terrible wrath;
    
    III In perfect agreement with God's mercy.
    
    I
    
    As he uncovered the source of our misery, the breach of the
covenant by Adam, the instructor has cut off all hope of man's
improvement. Our nature is so corrupt that we are incapable of doing
any good, and inclined to all wickedness. Fallen man shall never be
able to perform any good in the sight of God. "There is none that
understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all
gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is
none that does good, no, not one." Neither the morality of the
ancient heathens, estranged from the Word of God, which has been
revived from age to age in newer forms, and even in our days has
been reintroduced under the name of Christian humanism, nor the
ethical moralist brought to baptized crowds for their conversion,
that is, for their improvement, shows the way out of the state of
man's misery. "We have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that
they are all under sin," said the Apostle. Whether Jew or Gentile,
we are, in Adam, guilty before God, children of wrath, dead in
trespasses and sins.
    
    Nevertheless, God's justice continues to demand perfect
obedience from guilty men who are entirely incapable of doing any
good, but able only to bear fruit unto death. "Does not God then do
injustice to man?"
    
    "Yes, that is unjust," cries the Pelagian. Pelagius was a
British monk who lived around the year 450 A. D., and denied not
only the perfect creation after the image of God, but also our fall
in Adam. "Man is not incapable of doing any spiritual good; after
the fall man has a free will; if he wishes, he can do good; the fall
in Adam did not corrupt him, and if God demands obedience, man must
be able to render it; God does not demand the impossible, that would
be unjust." Thus Pelagius taught, and hundreds in our day agree with
him, all that ascribe a free will to man: the Armenians, the Roman
Catholics, and Modernists; all walk in the ways of Pelagius, yea,
the inclination to it lies in all our hearts. We challenge God's
right to demand what we cannot render. To our mind it is an
unsolvable problem: to be lost because of our own sin, but to be
saved by free grace. Preach that men must pray and then God will
give it, that we must knock, and then God will open to us, then we
will work and God will fulfill His promises. Do not say man is
entirely incapable of doing any good, for then you take away all his
hope; then, they cry, there is no comfort in all your preaching for
the unconverted; then we remain in our impotency. What does our
church attendance, our prayers, all our religion avail us? But,
beloved, is salvation then of works or of grace? If it is of grace,
all our works fall away entirely. Do you not feel that this entire
presentation as if God shall fulfill His promises, if we pray for
it, on condition that we knock, etc., does away with sovereign
grace? And yet many, even under the name of Reformed, present it
this way, in order as they aver, to hold the true doctrine high, and
to maintain man's responsibility. Nevertheless they do not see that
in this way natural man, however religious he may be, is lulled to
sleep and is set upon a sandy foundation. No, and no again, we do
not pray, seek, or knock. We are unwilling and unable to do so.
Shall we then just say nothing about man's responsibility? Shall we
hide behind our inability? Oh, my beloved, if we had any
understanding of the doctrine concerning the origin of our fall, we
would know that we are guilty, because the hardening of our heart
even under the richest presentation of the gospel that offers free
salvation without our works, is our own fault; because refusing to
be saved by grace, in spite of the offer of Christ in the gospel,
shall increase our condemnation. No, indeed, God did not publish a
new law under the new covenant, a kind of law in which he demands
faith, conversion, prayer, seeking and knocking; but He still
demands perfect obedience to the law which was inscribed in Adam's
heart and proclaimed from Mount Sinai. We show our enmity to God's
justice by the false pretenses of saying that God gave His promises
to all and we baptized people are all taken up in His covenant of
grace, and that by His promises He is obliged to give us salvation,
if we render to Him covenant obedience, and believe and convert
ourselves. We demand a reward for our church attendance, for our
prayers, for our religion, although we say that it is all of grace.
But it is and remains as the catechism says: "God does not do man an
injustice by requiring perfect obedience to the broken law, which we
cannot give because we are incapable of doing any good, and inclined
to all wickedness.
    
    Do we by this doctrine minimize at all the responsibility of
man? In no wise! One day each person shall be judged according to
his deeds, and his hardness in respect to the calling of the gospel
which God's faithful ministers urge upon him with holy solemnity,
shall increase his condemnation in that great day. Not being willing
to have that man reign over us, increases our sins as we have more
knowledge of God's Word and still live out the fall of Adam. Despise
the warnings, callings, impressions of conscience, but know thou,
that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Return,
beloved, go back to Paradise, to our creation, which was so perfect
that we could keep God's law perfectly. God does man no injustice
when he requires from him in his law that which he cannot perform.
    
    This we learn to acknowledge by the saving operation of the Holy
Spirit. Then our eyes are opened for the fact that God's demand is
just, and we are condemnable before Him. Our father was an Amorite,
and our mother a Hittite, and because of the loathing of our soul we
were cast out upon the open field. In a moment, by the lightning of
God's omniscience, all our sins are then set before us; all the
mercy God has shown, all the callings of the gospel and then, yes,
then, but then only shall we acknowledge that we bear the full
responsibility, and we shall not lay the blame upon God. God's
people learn to cry, pray, and knock because of their agony of soul,
and yet they know themselves to be lost, more and more. God demands
in His law what we cannot perform. Not a penny of the debt is to be
canceled. Not only the gross sins we have committed, but also our
best works render us guilty before God. Why do men speak of pleading
upon God's promises, who are total strangers of it? The uncovered
sinner is placed before the inexorable demand of God's justice, his
breach of the covenant is shown to him, and although the riches of
grace break his heart when the promises are opened to him, either
under the reading or the preaching of God's Word, yet he lacks the
power of application. The promises are for God's people, and he is
far from applying them to himself, although he has a glimpse of
their riches. God's justice must be satisfied. That justice demands
perfect obedience to the law which he has broken. Thus more and more
it becomes a lost case with him. The publican would not lift up so
much as his eyes to heaven. Such souls learn to pray, to knock and
to cry. Finally the prayer, the supplication of those who
acknowledge God's justice in His perfect demand becomes, "God be
merciful to me, a sinner." Grace only can save him from death; grace
that blots out guilt and sin.
    
    Indeed, so it is. God demands perfect obedience from fallen man
and in so doing God does not do man an injustice, "for God made man
capable of performing it, but man, by the instigation of the devil,
and his own willful disobedience, deprived himself and all his
posterity of those divine gifts." We have heard in the previous
Lord's Day that God created man good, and after His own image in
true knowledge, righteousness and holiness. God granted to man all
the powers and gifts to obey perfectly that law which God had
inscribed in their hearts and set forth as a condition of the
Covenant of Works to receive life eternal. In the state of rectitude
that was all his desire, for the love of God constrained them to
dedicate themselves to God. His mind meditated with holy joy and
admiration the thoughts of God revealed to him. It was his will to
do perfectly what God commanded. His affections were entirely set
upon being pleasing to God. Without any especially added grace, man
was capable because of his creation to do all that God commanded.
Oh, in what a glorious state did God create man! Was God unjust,
then, when He demanded perfect obedience? And is it unjust that God
still demands that obedience also after man has wasted all those
gifts and powers in the fall? No, for "man, by the instigation of
the devil and his own willful disobedience, deprived himself and all
his posterity of those divine gifts."
    
    God's Word does not tell us how long Adam and Eve stayed in that
state of rectitude. We know that on the sixth day "God saw
everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." Hence
before the sixth day neither angel nor man had fallen. And on the
seventh day God rested from all His works, that is, God rejoiced in
them. It is hard then to set the fall on the seventh day, as Luther
did. Van Maastricht was of the opinion that Adam and Eve persevered
in that state at least a few days, yes, for a week. Although God's
Word does not tell the duration of life in Paradise, our theologians
feel it was but a short time. However, it is indisputable that "man
by the instigation of the devil and his own willful disobedience
deprived himself and all his posterity of the divine gifts"
necessary to keep God's law.
    
    By his own doing he fell out of the glorious state of rectitude
into the slavery of Satan and of sin. But the demand of God's
righteousness was not thereby removed. God demands that man shall
fulfill that for which He created him and gave him his ability. The
fault of our inability to keep God's law does not lie in God, but in
ourselves. By our willful disobedience we have sold ourselves to do
evil. Would God then relinquish His right? He would then deny
Himself and cease to be God. And this does not refer only to Adam
and Eve. We were included in Adam. Do not believe that one of us
would have refused to lend our ears to the words of Satan and to eat
of the forbidden tree. Do not think that one person would have done
better than Adam, for our human nature could not have been more
perfect than that of Adam. In Adam's fall our nature also was
corrupted. As we have already heard, his sin is imputed to us
because of our covenant relationship. By his fall we have become
debtors to God's justice, subject to the sentence of death, and
corrupt, leprous from the crown of our head to the sole of our feet.
By His righteous judgment God withdraws His image from the soul as
it enters the body. Therefore because of the imputation of Adam's
sin, we are born in such a state of misery that we cannot keep God's
law, not even one commandment for one moment. Our guilt is here
placed before our eyes in the light of God's righteousness. And if
it shall be well with us, our guilt must become our guilt by the
discovering work of the Holy Spirit, and not by the superficial
confession and admission that we are sinners.
    
    If this happens in truth, God's people must give up all hope in
themselves, they must justify the demand of God; their best works
become filthy rags and all our commissions and omissions become
glaring sins. And still God's law must be obeyed perfectly; God's
demand also rests upon the distressed soul as long as he has not
found peace in the blood of the Lamb although, Christ has fulfilled
the law for all His people. He can not withdraw himself from that
demand, but drawn by the love of God, and by the bands of loving
kindness, he agrees with that demand and justifies the Lord. God
does no injustice to man when he requires from him that which he can
no more perform. But man is therefore subject to temporal and
eternal punishment. God's justice toward fallen man is maintained,
as we now shall hear,
    
    II
    
    in the pouring out of God's dreadful wrath.
    
Q. 10: Will God suffer such disobedience and rebellion to go
    unpunished?
    
A. By no means.

    Let the Socinian prattle about God's forgiving sin without
having received satisfaction in Christ, the answer of our instructor
cuts off all excuses. Briefly and to the point he answers, "By no
means." Faustus Socinus, born in 1539, held that righteousness does
not belong to the essence and nature of God, but to His will; which
again is not an immutable attribute of God by which God can will the
glorification of all His perfections, but an arbitrary and
changeable will. Punishment and forgiveness would then be decided by
an arbitrary will in God. If He forgives sin, He demands no
satisfaction. Does not remission preclude satisfaction? But Socinus
does not know the God of the Scriptures. His justice does not rest
upon arbitrariness, but belongs to His unchangeable nature. He
punishes sin in His only begotten Son and forgives them in His
people, who cannot pay a penny. But in thus forgiving sin God does
not subtract the least bit of His justice.
    
    The Son of God was never the object of His wrath. Even when He
was in the form of a servant, the Father spoke both at His baptism
and on the mount of Transfiguration, "This is My beloved Son."
Therefore He was never the object, but He was the bearer of the
wrath of God. Thus the Father maintaining the righteousness of God,
showed in the highest degree that He is terribly displeased with our
original and actual sins, and will punish them in His just judgment
temporally and eternally. He has not spared His own Son when He gave
Himself into judgment, to render satisfaction for the sins of the
elect. His justice demanded vengeance upon sin. If the pleasure of
the Lord shall prosper, sin must be punished and God's holy wrath
must be poured out, even upon His own beloved Son in Whom He is
well-pleased. If He could not relinquish His right when His own Son
stepped in as Surety for His elect, how then could He relinquish His
right when it concerned man, who tried to rob Him of His royal power
and glory? No, indeed, God will not let sin go unpunished; but He is
terribly displeased with our original and actual sins. The wrath of
God is holy, the perfect abhorrence of, and vengeance upon sin.
"Thou art," cries Habakkuk, "of purer eyes than to behold evil, and
can't not look on iniquity." "For Thou art not a God that has
pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with Thee. The
foolish shall not stand in Thy sight: Thou hatest all workers of
iniquity." (Ps. 5) And God's wrath is upon original as well as
actual sins, hence upon our original sins and those that we commit
with thoughts, words and deeds. Sinless children are not born. All
are conceived and born in sin, except Christ, Who was conceived of
the Holy Ghost. God's wrath rests upon us from the time we enter
this world, and day by day, heartbeat by heartbeat we increase our
guilt and provoke God to wrath. No sins are remissible in
themselves, as Rome teaches. Every sin provokes God's wrath: "Cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in
the book of the law to do them." Even the sins of God's people
deserve punishment, when viewed in themselves. Their punishment is
taken away only by the satisfaction of Christ. God does not punish
His people, although He chastises them for their sins. However this
does not alter the fact that the Lord is terribly displeased with
all sins and will certainly punish them. The wages of sin is death.
    
    God's people learn to know something of the wrath of God. This
brings the sorrows of death upon them. They cry out with the
Psalmist, "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell
got hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow." They testify that the
punishments of God are all righteous, both in and after this life.
For also in this life God punishes sin, although He is merciful and
slow to anger. His judgments are sent over the whole world; the
seals are opened, the trumpets sound, the vials are poured out. Both
in the lives of individuals, and in the nation at large, God shows
that He hates and punishes sin. Moreover He punishes sin eternally
in both soul and body in hell, where there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth, and where the smoke of their torment goes up for
ever and ever. And that sentence is passed "in His just judgment."
In that judgment the sins are placed before His bar and God as judge
passes judgment accordingly. One day, on the judgment day, the books
shall be opened and then it shall be evident that God does no
injustice. Let the wicked cry, "We call the proud happy; yea, they
that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even
delivered;" the Lord hears it, and the day of just recompence shall
come. Certainly, that day shall come, and he whose soul is not hid
in Christ, shall not be able to stand in the judgment. All excuses
shall fall away. Many shall claim that they have done signs and
wonders in the Lord's Name, and they shall be condemned, because God
demands a perfect obedience, that removes the guilt and sins which
was rendered by Christ alone. The revelation of God's righteousness
must lead us to know ourselves as lost before God, condemnable,
unable to expect anything but the righteous sentence of death, that
Zion may be redeemed by judgment. God postpones the righteous
judgment according to His pleasure, but He shall never abstain from
performing it. He is sovereign in the exercise of His justice, but
they shall be ashamed who say, "Every one that does evil is good in
the sight of the Lord, and He delighteth in them; or, Where is the
God of judgment?" The whole world is becoming ripe for the righteous
judgment, according to which God shall certainly punish the sinner,
both in time and in eternity. The righteous judgment, and that is
our third main thought for which we now ask your attention briefly,
is
    
    III
    
in complete accord with God's mercy.
Q. 11: Is not God then also merciful?
    
    There, that is the last evasion that arises out of our
rebellious heart against the righteousness of God and that which the
enemy of the true doctrine of man's guilt casts up. All those that
hold to the free will of man are asking this question, and
particularly the Socinian in whom, as Comrie writes, is all the
poison of hell; for he teaches that God forgives sin without having
received satisfaction for His righteousness. Remember also all
Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians, which last ones were followers of
Cassianus (Cassianus was a disciple of Chrysostom, his disciples
were called Semi Pelagians or Massilians because he was abbot of
Massiliae), who hold that the image of God and man's free will were
only weakened. The Roman Catholic Church especially holds this
Semi-Pelagian view: God is merciful, and we need only helping grace.
Arminius uttered his heresy very clearly when he said that to save a
sinner, God descents from His justice and ascends His throne of
mercy, as if God God could deny Himself.
    
    How carefully and faithfully the Instructor gives the answer,
"God is indeed merciful, but also just." God's mercy is praised in
Scripture continually. God's heart burns with eternal love to
glorify Himself in the salvation of His elect. His mercies have been
ever of old. (Ps. 25) His mercies are a multitude (Ps. 51). His
mercies are great. (2 Sam. 24:14) God is rich in mercy. (Eph. 2:4)
Yes, indeed, God is merciful. This He shows in the Son of His good
pleasure. In Him He forgives the sins of His people and casts them
in the sea of eternal forgetfulness. Mercy is one of the perfect
attributes of God in which His entire being lies. If God were not
merciful, no child of Adam could be saved; all would be cast in the
pool of fire and brimstone. And those mercies are not aroused by
viewing man's misery. God does not become merciful by seeing man's
pitiable state. He is the merciful One, as He revealed Himself to
Moses, when He went before Him, when not Moses, (let us all notice
that) but God Himself proclaimed, "The Lord God, merciful and
gracious, long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth." (Exod.
34:6) By sovereign mercy God's people are saved from eternal
perdition. Thus they are saved only by grace, according to the
Father's good pleasure. He crowns them with mercy. Being saved then
becomes an indescribable wonder, a wonder of God's mercy.
    But that mercy does not violate God's justice. "His justice
requires that sin which is committed against the most high majesty
of God, be also punished with extreme, that is, with everlasting
punishment of body and soul." The mercy of God is glorified in
executing His righteousness. Therefore He gave His only begotten
Son, who in our human nature was made under the law and bore the
wrath of God. On the cross He cried out, "It is finished." He paid
the last penny to God's justice, and in His resurrection from the
dead, the Father as Judge declared that His justice was satisfied.
Only thus can the mercy of God run its course and be glorified in
sinners. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment.
    
    God's people learn to know this by experience. They learn to
know themselves guilty under God's justice, as transgressors of all
God's laws. There is no escape. They are subject to death and
damnation. False Christianity may appeal to their baptism,
confession and covenant, without any true soul's experience of their
guilt; the almost Christian may be satisfied with an outward change
or with qualms of conscience; God's elect are placed before God's
justice, which He cannot relinquish. The love, the mercy of God
obtains an opening only in the satisfaction of His righteousness.
God requires satisfaction, while we have no penny to pay and
increase our debts with more debts. Thus, not only is all hope of
being saved by our works cut off, but it is impossible because of
God's righteousness. O beloved, being saved becomes a wonder of God,
glorified in satisfying the justice of the Lord that is violated by
our sins, but gratified only in Christ Jesus. God does a short work
in us. We must lose our life to find it, and thus this verse from
Psalm 119 becomes the language of God's dear people, and we shall
sing it now as found in Psalter No. 338 st. 1, 2.
    
    Application
    
    But if it is so that man can never satisfy the requirements of
God's law, what value does it have to preach that law? To the
Pelagian who might ask this question we answer: in preaching God's
demand to keep His law perfectly, God's righteousness is maintained
to His glory; He glorifies Himself in the judgment He passes over
the wicked according to His holy law, and by the preaching He wants
to convince His people of guilt and sin, that they may justify Him
and acknowledge the necessity of rendering satisfaction to God's
righteousness. Do cast away all Pelagian and Socinian thoughts as if
God's mercy without complete satisfaction to God's justice can save
us. Even the devils tremble at the realization that there is a God.
Would we then not fear? God requires of you and me as descendants of
Adam perfect obedience to his law, and then also bearing the
punishment threatened upon sin. The maintaining of His justice flows
forth from His perfect, divine nature, and obliges us to perfect
satisfaction, because He had created us so that we could keep the
law completely. Oh, my unconverted hearer, what else can you expect
but the eternal sentence of damnation when you shall soon appear
before the judgment seat of God? And who can say how soon this shall
be? There is but a hand breadth between us and death. Do you never
think about it that you shall soon be judged by your Judge? Can you
live on in your deadly carelessness? Must you not admit that your
confession, as orthodox as it may be, shall fall away at death?
Whether you are old or young, I would bind the seriousness of life
upon your heart. We must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ, and as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in
Christ's stead, by ye reconciled to God. You are yet in the day of
grace; the door of salvation is not yet closed for you. The Lord
still works in your soul; He calls you by His Word; He shows you the
way of life. What could the Lord have done more to His vineyard that
He had done in it? Does not your own conscience testify that you
will be lost, yea, are lost, because of your own guilt? How much
more shall every excuse disappear before God's judgment seat. Oh,
that the righteousness of God were bound upon your heart, and that
you would find no rest until you know by faith that this
righteousness is perfectly satisfied for you. Do not trust your
immortal soul upon any ground other than the glorification of this
righteousness. Your baptism, your orthodox creed, your troubled
conscience, the psalms that come to your mind, all these things are
but a garment that will not cover you before God. God's justice
requires perfect satisfaction and that satisfaction is only in
Christ. For your soul you need that Surety, Who has satisfied God's
righteousness and in Whom God's mercy is glorified.
    
    But is not this doctrine much too sharp? Does not such preaching
take away all hope of being saved? Does it not hurt the concerned
people of God, the little ones in grace? No, my beloved, no! It
takes away all hope that man builds upon his own strength and work,
all hope upon God's mercy without the glorification of His
righteousness. It casts us down into the judgment of death. Why do
you speak of the little ones in grace? Are they not those who with
their whole heart agree that God is righteous, even though he should
condemn them eternally?
    
    Perhaps there are some among us who, burdened by their guilt,
see their ground fall away with all their comforts when the
righteousness of God is bound upon their heart time and again. Their
tears, their supplications, their groans, their encouragements and
comforts, all, all are found wanting in the balances of God's
righteousness. Their soul has no rest. Even their looking upon
Christ as the way of life, their walk by faith with Him Who is their
heavenly Advocate, causes them to know themselves as guilty, as
lost; their debt to God's justice is still unpaid, and that troubles
them, and causes them to yearn for the peace of God that passes all
understanding. Oh that everything that is outside of Christ might be
cut off. God is indeed merciful, but also righteous. He requires His
image again, and payment for the debt we made. The Lord keep us from
building each other up in frames, no matter how gladdening and
comforting they are, but give that we shall maintain the justice of
God in teaching and preaching. God does no injustice to man by
requiring from him in His law that which he cannot perform. May He
cause us to bow under that justice, that Christ may become
indispensable, and we may be found in Him not having our
righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through faith
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. God does a
short work upon earth and those people are happy who may know of it
in consciousness of soul. The Lord guide us, may He cause us to know
His justice, to justify, yea, love His judgment, even more than our
salvation, so that mercy may rejoice against a well-merited
judgment. The Lord to that end takes away all false grounds and
encourages His seeking people, and causes us to glory in Him Who was
announced by Jeremiah with the well-known words, "In his days Judah
shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is the name
whereby He shall be called, 'The Lord Our Righteousness'." In Him
may God's mercy be upon you from eternity to eternity. Amen.
    
    
    
    
    

The Anguished Cry of a Convicted Sinner For Deliverance
    
Lord's Day 5
    

Psalter No. 40 st. 1, 2
Read Psalm 49
Psalter No. 135 st. 1,4, 5
Psalter No. 362 st. 1
Psalter No. 337 st. 1, 2


Beloved:
    
    The redemption of the soul is too precious to be brought about
by all the treasures of the world. And yet, natural man placed his
confidence in those treasures, as the poet of Psalm 49 has seen. It
is for him as for Asaph in Ps. 73, an enigma that the wicked
prospered, while the righteous must go their way with many
afflictions. But the Lord solved the enigma when He showed him the
insignificance and brevity of the happiness of worldlings. Strutting
in pride, their inward thought is that their houses should stand
forever and their dwelling places to all generations, exalting
themselves as they seek for honour, they call their lands after
their own names. Nevertheless, man being in honour abideth not; he
is like the beasts that perish. Soon God cuts off his life, and he
must stand before God's judgment seat. The ground of the worldling's
confidence, their earthly possessions, they must leave to others,
and even if they had gained the whole world, they shall lose their
soul and never redeem themselves nor their brother, nor give God His
ransom. Nevertheless, God demands for the redemption of the soul a
perfect satisfaction for His righteousness which was violated by
sin. That demand shall never cease. Whatever man may lay upon the
balances is weighed, and found wanting. All creatures in heaven and
on earth together can not give the required ransom. We hear the cry,
"Lost! lost!"; for the redemption of the soul is too precious. To
attain that redemption we need a righteousness that can only be
granted by Him, Who is not only very and righteous man, but who is
more than all men, namely, very God. Would not then they who know
themselves to be guilty before God because of their original and
actual sin, and see every way of being saved cut off for them cry to
God, asking whether there is still a way of escape? This anguished
cry we hear in the fifth Lord's Day of our Heidelberg Catechism.
    
    Lord's Day 5
    
Q. 12: Since then, by the righteous judgment of God, we deserve
    temporal and eternal punishment, is there no way by which we
    may escape that punishment, and be again received into favour?
    
A. God will have His justice satisfied: and therefore we must make
    this full satisfaction, either by ourselves, or by another.
    
Q. 13: Can we ourselves then make this satisfaction?
    
A. By no means; but on the contrary we daily increase our debt.
    
Q. 14: Can there be found anywhere, one, who is a mere creature,
    able to satisfy for us?
    
A. None; for, first, God will not punish any other creature for the
    sin which man has committed; and further, no mere creature can
    sustain the burden of God's eternal wrath against sin, so as to
    deliver others from it.
    
Q. 15: What sort of a mediator and deliverer then must we seek for?
    
A. For one who is very man, and perfectly righteous; and yet more
    powerful than all creatures; that is, one who is also very God.
    
    Hear in this Lord's Day the anguished cry of the convinced
sinner, and learn
    
      I by whom this cry is uttered,
    
     II by what only means an answer to this cry is possible,
    
    III which sure way is shown in answer to this cry.
    
    I
    
    The first question of this Lord's Day tells us by whom this
anguished cry is uttered: it is the troubled sinner who sees no way
of escape. All his attempts proved unsatisfactory and at wit's end
he cries, "Is there no way by which we may escape that punishment,
and be again received into favour?" It is a cry for deliverance,
while submitting to God's justice, for the questioner acknowledges
that by the righteous judgment of God he deserves temporal and
eternal punishment. The doctrine that God, according to His
unalterable righteousness, can not but punish our original and
actual sin with temporal and eternal punishment, may be too hard for
many, but he who through grace has seen the state of His misery
acknowledges God's justice. Without making any allowances, he admits
that according to the righteous judgment of God he has merited those
punishments. God's holy law wrought within him the knowledge of sin
by the operation of the Holy Spirit, so that he experienced that he
could not keep the law of God, because he is prone by nature to hate
God and his neighbor. In the depth of misery he saw that he was a
transgressor of all God's commandments, unable to keep one of them,
try as he may. He counts the irrational creatures happier than
himself. It seems to him that the stones of the street call to him
that he does not deserve to tread upon the earth, and that all men
can read upon his forehead how miserable he is, and that, as Lord's
Day 3 showed, by his own fault.
    
    Oh, such a man will not blame God for his misery, but
acknowledges that he himself is the cause of it, because of willful
disobedience and breach of the covenant in Adam. In Adam he himself
broke the Covenant of Works. Adam's sin is his sin, increased by him
daily. God therefore must punish that sin with the judgment of
eternal death. How can it be otherwise? Moreover he has learned to
love the righteousness of God, and he would not use any way of
escape that does not glorify all God's perfections. But that makes
his salvation impossible and cuts off all his hope. We must notice
that in those that are savingly convicted, a submission to the
justice of God is wrought. Such a convicted sinner could never,
though he were assigned to hell, curse God, but would eternally cry
out that God is righteous. He would subtract nothing from the
righteousness of God. He will thus bow under God and cry for a way
of escape, only when all hope of being saved by the works of the law
is cut off. When the Holy Spirit leads His people, Law and Gospel,
Moses and Christ are not intermixed. As it is His work to glorify
the work of Christ in the elect, so it is His ministry to remove
from man all grounds outside of the only Mediator.
    
    We can never rightly value the Lord Jesus without forsaking all
outside of Him, and he who never learned to see his own works as
insufficient for salvation has never truly sought refuge in Christ
by faith. Yea, the people drawn by God, that seek too much to
satisfy God and make their tears and experiences their ground,
rather than Him Who is the stone laid by God as the headstone of the
corner, that people must be deprived of all that in which they seek
life. As entirely lost persons, they must seek a way by which they
can again be received into favour, a way revealed by God. The Lord
taketh away the first that He may establish the second. Then the
dire need of their soul causes them to persist in beseeching and
crying to God, Who draws them with the cords of His loving kindness
and leads them with weeping and supplication. Ahab humbled himself
only outwardly, but knew nothing of true humiliation before God, nor
of true seeking after God. But the sinner, convinced by the Holy
Spirit, who is willing to sign his death sentence with his own
blood, nevertheless cries to God, "Is there no way by which we may
escape that judgment?" "With men," the Lord Jesus once said, "that
is impossible, but it is possible with God." And although the fear
is great, and the way is narrow, still there is in the heart of the
sinner who submits to the righteousness of God, a hope in God that
with Him a way of escape is possible. This causes him to persevere
and cry, "Is there still a way, a way with Thee, O God, a way in
which we can both escape the well-deserved punishment and be again
received in favour?"
    
    To be again received into favour, means to be restored into
God's favour and fellowship. The purpose of the lost sinner is not
only to be relieved from the punishment of hell, but his soul
desires to be again received into favour, that is to be restored
into communion with God. In the state of innocence Adam did not need
grace, as we do for the forgiveness of our sins; for in that state
man had no sin, but lived in the blessed fellowship and favour of
God. By sin that communion was broken, and after that communion the
convicted sinner thirsts. He wants God. How many are stricken in
their conscience for a while, and fear hell; but if the fear of
eternal condemnation is taken away, they are at rest. But he who
learns to know truly his sinful heart, who by a saving discovery of
his state of misery sees the righteous judgment of God, thirsts
after God as a heart after the water brooks, after reconciliation
with God and restoration in His favour. He loves God, however much
he has provoked Him with his sins, and that love seeks not only to
escape the righteous judgment, but also to attain communion with
God. That is what the question means: "Is there no way by which we
may escape that punishment, and be again received into favour?" That
is a mark of the true work of grace. He who is a stranger of this
thirsting after God, has no knowledge of the life that is born of
God.
    
    This asking about being received into favour, keeps the soul
from taking any rest until it has found peace with God in Christ.
The efficacious, clear discovery of the Holy Spirit is profitable to
the soul itself, because it drives us from all rest outside of
Christ and causes us to remain active to rest by faith in God. There
is nothing more harmful to the people of God than to rest in the
grace received. This is the fruit of the redemption in Christ, but
not the ground upon which we may rest. Oh, how necessary it is that
we see our state of deep misery in order that we may again be
received into favour, and reconciled with God in Christ, may have
communion with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. To have that
communion is the main purpose, for that was broken by our fall.
God's elect are, however, in Christ, in whom the Father is well
pleased, returned to the Father's heart of love, not only in the
closing of the covenant in eternity, when Christ was by the Father,
as one brought up with Him, and was daily His delight, rejoicing
always before Him, rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth, and
His delights were with the sons of men; but those given by the
Father to Christ, were also restored into reconciled relationship
and communion with God, when their Surety and Savior had paid all
their debt by death, and having risen again, ascended to heaven and
sits at the right hand of God. Then all the elect were placed in
heaven with Him. And both in the Covenant of Grace in eternity, and
in the execution of it in Christ, God's people are restored in a
state of reconciliation and communion with God. Upon that foundation
alone their guilt and punishment is removed and they, who are
children of wrath as all others, are again received into favour.
Then the Spirit of God shall bear witness with their spirit that
they are children of God. It is for this restoration in God's favour
that the totally lost sinner seeks. Is there no way to attain this
since all means from man's side are cut off? Deeply embarrassed, out
of the soul's great need, the child of Adam seeks it. The Catechism
instructs him,
    
    II
    
by what only means an answer to this cry is possible. The way is
shown
    
    A. by holding up the demand of God's justice;
    
    B. by showing how impossible it is for man to give satisfaction.
    
    In the answer to the 12th question the instructor again places
the perplexed sinner, in whom all hope of being saved is taken away,
before the justice of God, saying, "God will have His justice
satisfied, and therefore we must make full satisfaction, either by
ourselves or by another." Many would call this a very harsh answer.
If such a person in such a state would come to you or to me, asking,
"Is there still a way for me to be saved?" would we not be inclined
to encourage him with all kinds of comforting texts? Do not
thousands call, "Just believe in Jesus?" Yea, everyone is urged to
do so, even if the arrows of God's law have not wounded his soul.
Compare such an answer to one that says that God will have His
justice satisfied, and He demands payment in full. We must pay, even
to the last penny.
    
    Oh, let us cease building upon frames and feelings. If they
truly see that they are guilty of transgressing God's law and are
subject to the righteous judgment of God, they shall disdain your
hollow comforts, and if they rely upon them, they shall draw the
soul away from Christ. The damage done by disregarding the
inexorable demand of God's righteousness can never be described. And
now, I am not only thinking of the Orpah's who are fond of God's
people and do want to live with them until they fall away, but I am
thinking especially of those who have been quickened by the Lord out
of their state of death, who complain as a living man about their
sins. The damage done is unspeakably great if they are not placed
before God's judgment seat. Christ shall never be desirable for them
if they do not learn what it means, that God's justice must receive
full satisfaction; and they cannot give that satisfaction with their
convictions, tears, prayers, and promises. God cannot be content
with their good intentions. The Pelagian, the Armenian and the
Modernist would leave no room for God's righteousness, and the
Socinians would mock this doctrine, but God demands perfect
satisfaction, perfect obedience to the law on pain of death to all
eternity. Therefore the Roman Catholic Church sinks away with all
its good works, as the house of the foolish builder, "which built
his house upon the sand."
    
    The satisfaction which God demands is bearing the punishment
threatened upon sin, and rendering perfect obedience to the law. If
God could subtract even the very least part of this demand, why
could He not just as well, as the wicked Socinian teaches, give up
entirely the demand of His righteousness and forgive sins without
demanding satisfaction? In the previous Lord's Day already we
observed that this heretic teaches that God forgives sins without
asking satisfaction. According to Socinus, forgiving excludes
satisfaction. If we are able to pay our neighbor what we owe him, we
neither ask nor accept forgiveness. How then can we speak of God
forgiving sin only when His justice is fully satisfied? Because the
forgiveness by which God blots the sins of His people out of His
book, does not rest upon a satisfaction brought by the elect, but by
God Himself. God's only and natural Son, He Who with the Father and
the Holy Spirit is the true and eternal God, has paid the penalty
for His people by His suffering and death in our human nature. The
elect are reconciled to God by God. They themselves did not pay even
the smallest part of the huge debt which is entirely forgiven them.
The demand of satisfaction to the violated righteousness of God
rested upon Christ as the Surety of His people. God Himself paid in
full by His active and passive obedience, but the sins of God's
elect are forgiven freely out of God's grace which is in Christ
Jesus. Therefore forgiving does not preclude the demand of full
satisfaction.
    
    Socinus also contested the doctrine of reconciliation by the
passion and death of Christ as impossible. Among men a surety can
only function in the case of financial debt, but for one person to
die in the place of another is impossible and contrary to justice.
The crime that is punishable by death, is of a different character;
the lawgiver can avenge this guilt only upon the transgressor
himself. Yes, indeed, among men this rule of justice holds, but it
has no force in regard to the suretyship of Christ. As Adam
represented all his posterity in the Covenant of Works, and through
him death came upon all those whom he represented, thus Christ could
represent His elect in the Covenant of Grace, and engage His heart
to approach unto God for them, giving Himself unto death, so that as
by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the
obedience of One, many shall be made righteous, that as sin has
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
    
    Moreover, no man's life is in his own power, and therefore he
may not give his life in the place of one condemned to die. Indeed,
this rule of justice applies to men. But the Lord Jesus testified,
"I have power to lay down my life, and to take it again." He could
lay down His life, He could give Himself into death for His people,
for He had power to take His life again. In His death He destroyed
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. He did not
enter death to remain there, but to conquer death. The righteousness
of His Father demanded His resurrection from the dead, and by His
own power He rose again from the dead. Thus His death is not only a
satisfaction of God's justice, but it is also a triumph of Him as
the Surety of the Covenant. Jesus entered into death, not as a
martyr who has no power to save himself, but as the Lion of the
tribe of Judah, sure of His victory, and rejoicing in the
satisfaction He rendered to the righteousness of God, so that the
sins of His people could be forgiven without violating God's
justice, and thus the good pleasure of God would be accomplished.
Thus the lying objections of the Socinians fall away completely.
Sins can be forgiven only when God's justice is satisfied. Otherwise
why should it have been necessary for God to send His only-begotten
Son into the world, and cause Him to bear the burden of His eternal
wrath?
    
    Moreover, God's righteousness demanded a perfect satisfaction,
both by perfect obedience to all the commandments, and by suffering
and bearing the penalty threatened upon transgression. As impossible
as it is that God should cease to be God, so impossible it is that
God should be content with a partial payment, overlooking the rest,
even though that were but a very small amount. The law curses
everyone that continues not in all things which are written in the
book of the law to do them, and that curse that rests upon Adam and
all his posterity can only be taken away by rendering perfect
satisfaction to the justice of God. Either we or someone else in our
place must render this perfect satisfaction. God binds this demand
upon the soul of His people while they have not a penny to pay for
their great debt, and this demand is maintained by the instructor.
The enemies of this doctrine may mock and say it is a hard,
merciless doctrine; the upright in Zion fully agree with it. They do
not desire anything else. It is for God's honour; His righteousness
may not be violated. They desire to be redeemed with righteousness.
It is that which causes so much strife within, for how shall that
righteousness be satisfied?
    
    But did not the Lord Jesus come into the world for this purpose?
Has He not cried out, "It is finished?" Certainly, but they do not
know Him even though He has been preached to them from their youth.
They must be prepared to know Him as the way, the truth and the
life. And that preparation takes place when the demand of God's
righteousness which cannot be escaped penetrates their soul. No, the
answer of the instructor is not too hard and merciless, for it leads
to Christ, to redemption, in Him Who shall manifest Himself unto
them as He does not do unto the world.
    
    The debt must be paid, paid in full, either by ourselves or by
another.
    
    "Can we ourselves then make this satisfaction?"
    
    "By no means." In whatever way you take it, from whatever angle
you view it, payment by ourselves is impossible. The law, having
become weak through the flesh, could not justify anyone before God.
    
    "Wherefore," asks the Lord, "do you spend money for that which
is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not?" We
ourselves cannot pay, not even one penny.
    
    And what is worse, we increase our debt daily. Every person adds
sin upon sin every day until God can no longer endure them, and the
convinced sinner is aware of this. They have experienced it. They
have exerted every effort since the law wrought in their heart the
knowledge of sin, but they seemed to become worse from day to day.
Often they dared not close their eyes at night for fear they would
open them in hell. They spend their nights sighing. They must give
up the hope of ever rendering satisfaction to God's righteousness by
themselves.
    
    And by another? Let us remember that he who would pay for
another must be one with the debtor before the law, must stand in
his place, make his debt his own, obliging himself to pay the debt
for him in full. The law's demand of suffering the penalty and
rendering perfect obedience is then made upon the one who gave
himself as surety. The law pursues the surety, the righteousness of
God demands of him the same that was demanded of the original
debtor. And if the surety gives satisfaction, this satisfaction is
accepted in the place of the satisfaction God demanded of the one
for whom he was surety. But where can we find such a one? Among the
creatures it is impossible. Who could that other one be? The blood
of bulls and of goats can not satisfy God's justice. The holy angels
cannot be our mediators. God's righteousness would not permit it.
Man has sinned and man must pay; God will not lay the penalty upon
another creature. Moreover, man is subject to God's punishment in
both body and soul, and the angels have neither body nor soul. How
then can they bear our punishment? The devils shall be subject to
God's wrath in the everlasting fire only in their nature as angels.
Moreover, eternal punishment must follow sin, under which a creature
would have to suffer eternally, and therefore no mere creature can
take away the eternal wrath of God against sin.
    
    This is also true of mere man, as we shall see in the following
Lord's Day. But what about the saints? Saints are only they who by
faith have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore,
and for that reason only are they before the throne. They also were
fallen in Adam, subject to death and condemnation, and they were
saved only by grace through the death of Christ. They themselves
have never been able to satisfy God's justice. It is of them the
instructor speaks when he says, "No mere creature can sustain the
burden of God's eternal wrath against sin, so as to deliver others
from it." When Rome seeks the favour and intercession of the saints
and good works, it shows plainly that it has not the least
understanding of the righteousness of God that demands perfect
satisfaction.
    
    God's people are bowed down under that demand, and they lose all
expectation of themselves and of all creatures. Although the love of
God to His people is very great because they have been renewed after
His image, they fall away when placed before His righteousness.
There before God's judgment seat each person shall stand alone some
day to give an account of himself; and before that by God's people
are placed in this life, laden with origins] and actual sin. No
creature in heaven or on earth can pay the penalty. They expect
nothing but the execution of the curse pronounced upon sin.
    
    But still ... there is hope, which shines through the sharp
answer of the instructor, hope even though God will not punish
another creature for the guilt man has made, this does not exclude
the possibility of a person being a surety for fallen sinners. We
must pay ourselves or by another. Angels cannot pay and saints have
not a penny for others, and still in the third place,
    
    III
    
a sure way is shown in answer to this cry. Let us briefly give that
our attention. The 6th Lord's Day will give us more instruction on
this point, but here already the way is shown when the instructor
tells us that we must seek a mediator and deliverer who is very man,
and perfectly righteous, yet more powerful than all creatures, that
is: one that is also very God. Only such a mediator and deliverer
shall satisfy the demand of God's righteousness and can deliver from
the curse of the law.
    
    A mediator is someone who stands between two parties to
reconcile them to each other. The Mediator spoken of here stands
between God Who is angry on account of sin and a condemned sinner,
to reconcile God with His people and remove the curse from His
people forever. That Mediator is at the same time a Deliverer. He
delivers from the curse and dominion and penalty of sin; He delivers
from the power of Satan. He frees those for whom He mediates. This
He does freely in His eternal love, putting Himself in their place.
The spotless Lamb of God became the guilty debtor in the place o$
His elect, and they became the righteousness of God in Him.
    
    Isaiah speaks very clearly of the substitutionary work of the
Mediator, saying, "But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was
bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon
Him and by His stripes we are healed." However He only could do this
who is not only very man and perfectly righteous, but also very God.
The next Lord's Day we are told who that Mediator is. As it were out
of travail of the soul, convinced of His sin and misery, He comes
forth in the knowledge of faith. The drawing power of His love may
be felt in their heart for some time, and His fruit may refresh them
while His person may still be concealed from them. That causes much
agony, for their debt burdens them, and the law pursues them.
Therefore their soul calls for a Mediator and Deliverer who can
satisfy God's justice. That cry of need causes them to use the words
of the psalmist which we shall sing
    
        "Out of the depths I cry, O Lord, to Thee,
        Lord, hear my call" etc. Psalter No. 362 st. 1
    
    Application
    
    Beloved, do you fully agree with the doctrine that maintains the
righteousness of God and demands full satisfaction from you and me
even unto the last penny? The church wavers upon its foundation if
even the least is detracted from this doctrine. Yet everywhere this
doctrine is pushed to the background. Not only do the Pelagians and
Socinians deny it, but even among those churches which want to be
considered Reformed, the just demand of the perfect obedience to
God's law is relegated to the background, while the so-called
command of the Gospel to believe and be converted is in the
foreground. But what is the Gospel without man's state of misery?
God's justice must be perfectly satisfied and the Gospel tells us by
Whom and in what manner that satisfaction was given for God's elect.
Oh that we would take instruction from the Word of God so clearly
presented in the Catechism. God wills, not arbitrarily, but because
of the perfection of His Divine Being, that His justice shall be
perfectly satisfied. Do not, my hearers, give up even the least bit
of that demand. May God keep His church from falling away to the
Socinians who make a mockery of God's just demand, or to the
Pelagians who rob God of His honour, or to the Roman Catholics who
glory in their works.
    
    We must pay, pay in full, and we cannot, not even for one of all
our sins. Therefore we need a Surety, Who will pay for us; a
Mediator, Who is very God and also very man and perfectly righteous.
Search continually our old famous theologians; consider, and
assimilate what they, who were so enlightened by God's Spirit and
have battled with so many erring spirits, have left us. Many have
attended from their youth the reading of those sermons in the House
of God. May God keep us with those truths. Has what you read in
Smijtegeldt, Justus Vermeer, Vander Kemp, Comrie, and many others,
been different from what the Heidelberg Catechism teaches? Do not
allow these new presentations given in these days draw you away from
the old tried truths. In the works of those strict Reformed fathers,
you have never found the doctrine of general atonement, kept alive
by Pelagius, as though Christ died for all men; nor the gladly
accepted Barthian theory, propagated by Prof. Niftrik, published in
our country, and taught in many schools; nor the doctrine of three
covenants that makes the covenant of grace merely an offer of grace
which must be accepted. The old writers place the state of death in
the foreground and by maintaining God's righteous demand that His
justice be satisfied, they have cut off all hope of being saved,
even, as we observed the appeal to God's mercy. Justice must run its
course, and that justice was satisfied, for God's elect, by the
sacrifice of Christ. Away with your works, your prayers, your tears;
we all need a Mediator Who is very God and very, and righteous man.
    
    Dare anyone say that with this doctrine man's responsibility for
all his deeds, and especially for the callings of the Gospel that
come to him is not maintained? How much labor has God bestowed on
us! In the external call He invites all those who hear the Word,
none excepted. No one is excluded; no one has sinned too long or too
grievously. Even publicans and harlots were not turned away by
Jesus. Can anyone of us say, "That call of Christ is not for me?"
Yet we will not come to Him. He testifies of us, as He did of
Jerusalem, "How often would I have gathered thy children together,
as a hen does gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not."
    
    Shall He then not one day say, "But those that would not that I
should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me?" Oh,
I pray you, bind the Word of God about your neck; read, search the
Scriptures, do not neglect the means of grace given by God; always
occupy your seat in catechism and in church. Parents, take your
children with you when you go to hear the preaching of the Word.
Keep your eye upon them, so that they shall listen. Speak often with
each other about the true doctrine and withdraw from the pleasures
of the world. Young and old, bow before God and pray Him to use the
preaching for your salvation. Doing all this does not bring you one
step nearer to your salvation, oh, no! but it may please the Lord
out of pure mercy to bless the means, so that you may discover your
state of misery and learn to pray and knock as a poor lost sinner at
His throne of grace. We must first learn to know our state of misery
before we shall pray to God for grace. The discovering of our misery
is the work of the Holy Spirit. May He convince you of it, and stir
you up out of your deadly carelessness before the time of grace for
you shall be passed. Today, if ye hear His voice, harden not your
heart.
    
    Let the people of God testify, however varied their way may have
been, whether the Lord perhaps had called to them from their
childhood days, they would never have truly prayed to God, if the
Lord had not prevailed upon them. He opened their eyes for their
state of deep misery; He convinced them of their sins; He summoned
them before His judgment seat. And then? Then they became the most
miserable of all men. Did not God's law demand of them what they
could not perform? Did not all their sins testify against them, yea,
even their best works? And still they must justify the demand and
the judgment of God and acknowledge that they are worthy of death.
With childlike simplicity they agree with the instructor before Him
Who knows the heart, "By the righteous judgment of God we have
deserved God's temporal and eternal punishment." Moreover, there is
no way of escape. Blessed are they who arrive at wit's end. They
cannot live without that only Mediator. Although He is still
concealed for them, although they cannot save themselves with their
historical faith, their soul is prompted to seek salvation in Him.
    
    Continue in prayer and supplication before God's throne of mercy
until He manifests Himself to you as He does not to the world. Has
He not promised His guilty and lost people that He will not tarry,
and that He shall not forsake the work of His own hands? May He
enlighten your eyes so that you may see the King in His beauty. It
would become so different in you if that only way that leads to life
were but revealed to you. Out of His fullness His people receive
grace for grace. He caused them to awake out of their state of
death, but He also wants them to understand thoroughly that
salvation without Him is impossible, and for that purpose He takes
away all grounds upon which they might rest. We must seek a Mediator
who is both God and man. Seek Him constantly; seek Him, that your
guilt may be pardoned, that your iniquity may be removed, and that
you may be restored in the fellowship with God. Oh, people of God,
give your soul no rest except in this only Mediator. He is also the
Fountain of life for His own. Oh that we would more and more seek
our life in Him. Outside of that Mediator who is very man and
perfectly righteous, and yet more powerful than all creatures, that
is, one who is also very God, we have no access to the Father. The
redemption of lost sinners was so great a work that it could only be
brought about by Him, Who is both God and man. One day that great
work of redemption shall be obtained in perfect glory. This is
acknowledged even in this life by faith. Therefore God's children
fall down in adoration and amazement at Jesus' feet crying out, "He
is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand," and to all
eternity they shall praise Him Who redeemed them to God by His
blood. Amen.
    
    
    
    
    
The Person of the Mediator Revealed
    
Lord's Day 6
    

Psalter No. 135 st. 1, 2
Read John 5:1-18
Psalter No. 124 st. 1-5
Psalter No. 333 st. 3, 4
Psalter No. 227 st. 1, 2


Beloved:

    For those who acknowledge that the old Reformed doctrine is
entirely based upon God's Word and is accordingly confessed in Forms
of Unity, it is very sure, that no sinner can be saved outside of
Christ. Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, spoke of Him, when he
said to the inimical Jewish counsel, "This is the stone which was
set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the
corner. Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
The Lord Jesus Himself testified, to quote no other Scripture, that
He was come into the world to save sinners. He invites by His Word
all those that hear that Word, to come unto Him so that they shall
have life in His Name.
    
    Notwithstanding the good confession to which we agree,
notwithstanding the fact that Christ is presented to us in the
Gospel, nobody can or will come to Him. The Lord tells us so in John
5:40, "And ye will not come unto Me, that ye might have life," and
in John 6:44 Christ says, "No man can come to Me, except the Father
which has sent Me draw him." Our pride, our self-righteousness, our
enmity prevent our coming to Christ to be saved by grace. Only by
the effectual drawing of the Father shall a sinner who has learned
by faith to see his sins and misery, seek refuge in Christ.
    
    In the history of the Netherlands there is a clear illustration
of this. John Van Oldenbarnevelt, having been sentenced to death by
twenty-four judges, refused to ask for pardon when given the
opportunity by Prince Maurice. He would rather die on the scaffold
than ask for pardon, because that would be an admission of guilt
which he would not acknowledge. We also would rather be eternally
lost than be saved by grace through Christ, unless by the
irresistible operation of the Holy Spirit, we are convinced of guilt
and sin.
    
    The Catechism then also, after having cut off all hope of
deliverance out of the deep state of man's misery by any creature,
has maintained the justice and pointed out the only way of escaping
the righteous judgment and of being again received into the favour
of God. That way of escape is in such a Mediator Who is very man,
and perfectly righteous; and yet more powerful than all creatures,
that is, one who is also very God. Who that Mediator is, is shown to
us in the sixth Lord's Day of the Heidelberg Catechism, which now
asks our attention.
    
    Lord's Day 6
    
Q. 16: Why must He be very man, and also perfectly righteous?
    
A. Because the justice of God requires that the same human nature
    which has sinned, should likewise make satisfaction for sin;
    and one, who is himself a sinner, cannot satisfy for others.
    
Q. 17: Why must He in one person be also very God?
    
A. That He might, by the power of His Godhead sustain in His human
    nature, the burden of God's wrath; and might obtain for, and
    restore to us, righteousness and life.
    
Q. 18: Who then is that Mediator, who is in one person both very
    God, and a real righteous man?
    
A. Our Lord Jesus Christ: "who of God is made unto us wisdom, and
    righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."
    
Q. 19: Whence knowest thou this?
    
A. From the Holy Gospel, which God Himself first revealed in
    Paradise; and afterwards published by the patriarchs and
    prophets, and represented by the sacrifices and other
    ceremonies of the law; and lastly, has fulfilled it by His only
    begotten Son.
    
    In this Lord's Day the Person of the Mediator is revealed, Who
has the necessary qualifications, and this is done so that
    
      I we are given the reasons why He must be very man and
         perfectly righteous,
    
     II it is explained why He must be very God;
    
    III the Person of the Mediator is made known to us;
    
     IV Scripture is shown to be the only source of knowledge of
         Him.
    
    I
    
    Not until the 6th Lord's Day does the Catechism reveal the
Person of the Mediator of the Covenant of Grace. The previous Lord's
Day did speak of the possibility of man's redemption by a Mediator,
but the characteristic of Lord's Day 5 is that it speaks only of the
state of deliverance, but keeps the Person of the Mediator hidden.
It spoke of the riches of that deliverance that not only brought
atonement for sin, but also would restore the sinner to God's
communion. Full salvation was shown us. The soul crushed by the
righteousness of God cannot be content with less. Oh, the soul has
learned by the light of the Spirit to know its deep misery, as
condemned by God's justice, and banned from God's fellowship. Then
in the fifth Lord's Day, his hope of perfect restoration in the
communion of God was revived. Thus the Lord wishes to restore the
weary soul and show him the salvation He has prepared for His
church. Those are the encouragements of love by which the soul lives
and which causes it to hope, regardless of what condemns it. Oh,
there is a possibility for a lost soul, and hope for a guilty soul.
The question, how God's justice is satisfied, and by whom salvation
is merited remains still hidden. Whenever the law makes the soul
feel its condemning power, the soul seems to lose all its
foundations, so that no refuge remains. Although the treasures of
Christ are shown, yea, given to the soul, as Rebekah received of
Eliezer precious gifts from Isaac, as long as He Himself does not
come to the soul and enlighten the eyes to know Him, all firm
grounds are lacking, and in spite of all instructions, the sinner
keeps turning to his own powers. All God's children must experience
that historical knowledge of the truth cannot give light. It seems
to them as though they had never heard the name of Jesus.
    
    Thus the Heidelberger makes you understand what agonies the
convicted soul experiences before it goes to Jesus. And all this
serves to make us know the greatness of the deliverance and the
glory of the Mediator. Notice how the Catechism seems to prepare the
sinner according to the Word of God for the revelation of the
Mediator. First it shows the possibility, then the greatness of the
deliverance as requiring a Mediator who is both very God and very
man, and now at last it shows the reasons why those requirements
must be met. Thus the seeking soul inquires:
    
    "Why must He be very man and also perfectly righteous?" It is
more than mere curiosity that prompts this question, the questioner
is prompted by his soul's longing after the only Mediator, Who must
be very man and also perfectly righteous: "Because the justice of
God requires that the same human nature which has sinned, should
likewise make satisfaction for sin, and one who is himself a sinner
cannot satisfy for others."
    
    The Mediator must be very man, hence he must possess all that
belongs to the human nature, that means both body and soul, like
unto His brethren in all things, sin excepted. God's justice
required it.
    
    "The same human nature which has sinned must make satisfaction
for sin", says the Instructor. Does not God's Word say, "The soul
that sinneth, it shall die", and again, "They know the judgment of
God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death."
    
    Therefore, according to Gods immutable justice, the human nature
which sinned must be punished, and it would be unjust and therefore
entirely impossible for God to punish any nature other than the one
that sinned, even if that could be done. Hence the Mediator must be
very man. Moreover, He must be a man out of men, out of the race of
Adam. No, He did not bring from heaven a human nature formed by the
omnipotence of God, without man's intervention. Then He would have
been outside of the human race, and would have had no fellowship
with men, and hence could not take our guilt upon Himself. He
engaged His heart to approach unto God for His elect, to take our
nature upon Himself from a virgin in the fulness of time, and to be
the matured fruit of Mary's womb. He showed Himself to be very man
during His sojourn upon earth from day to day. He ate and drank and
slept; He was tired and hungry; He wept. In short, He was like unto
men in all things, sin excepted; according to body and soul He was
one of us, very man. I will not now speak of the fountain of comfort
that lies in Him as the sympathizing High Priest, Who knows our
wants, and can now sympathize with us in all things, Who understands
His people in whatever circumstances they may be. In this Lord's
Day, just the necessity of Christ's truly human nature to satisfy
the demands of God's justice is shown. "Forasmuch then, as the
children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise
took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil."
    
    He must then be very man, according to Paul's explanation, in
order to conquer in our nature death and the devil, and to deliver
His people out of their claws. "For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be
made righteous." Only in the true human nature could sin be avenged
and God's justice satisfied. The Mediator was also promised as such;
He was the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob;
He was the kinsman Redeemer, the High Priest, taken out of men.
"Wherefore in all things it behaved Him to be made like unto His
brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in
things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the
people." (Hebr. 2:17) Oh that our soul might see that Mediator by
faith. In paradise, man blinded by Satan's deception, aspired to the
glory of God. God spoke, "The man is become as one of Us." But in
the Mediator, the second Adam, God became man, to be subject to the
law which man is obliged to obey, and to bear the punishment that
rests upon us, and thereby reconcile us to God.
    
    Because of God's justice the Mediator had to be very man, that
is, having body and soul, as we, a man taken from men, the true seed
of David. Only thus can He be our High Priest. "For every high
priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining
to God." (Hebr. 5:1)
    
    But He must also be a perfectly righteous man, that means He
must be without sin, without original and without actual sin. How
could the Divine nature enter into such a close union with the human
nature, that they are united into one person, if that human nature
of the Mediator were not entirely sinless! How could the Mediator
approach unto God if He had sin! Indeed, how could He be a Mediator
for others if any guilt rested upon Himself! Then He would be
subject unto death for Himself. To be able to plead for hell-worthy
creatures, the Mediator had to be very man and perfectly righteous.
    
    Moreover, as we have already heard in the fifth Lord's Day, the
Mediator and Redeemer must also be very God. Let us then give ear to
the instructor, as he declares,
    
    II
    
why He must be very God.
    
    The punishment of sin is an eternal punishment, that is,
punishment without end; there is no completing of it. Supposing that
a mediator came who was a real and righteous man, he would have had
to suffer eternally. Never, no never could he have cried out, "It is
finished", never would God's justice be satisfied, never would
salvation be accomplished for God's elect. Although it is necessary
that the Mediator be very man and perfectly righteous, He must also
be more than all creatures. He must also be very God, in order to
bring His work to completion. How clear, how understandable the
lesson of the Catechism is in Qu. 17:
    
    "Why must He in one person also be very God?"
    
    "That He might by the power of His Godhead, sustain in His human
nature the burden of God's wrath; and might obtain for and restore
to us, righteousness and life."
    
    Because of His Godhead, His human nature was able to bear the
burden on God's wrath. He suffered only in His human nature; God
cannot suffer, nor die. In soul and body, hence in His complete
human nature, but in His human nature alone Christ bore the burden
of God's wrath. His divinity sustained His humanity and therefore He
could finish bearing it. How could He have withstood Satan's
temptations after forty days of fasting in the wilderness, if His
divinity had not sustained His humanity? How could He have left
Gethsemane where His soul was exceeding sorrowful unto death, if He
were not very God? How, let me conclude with this, could He arise
from the dead if His divine nature had not given to the human nature
such a victorious power, that death nor the grave could bind Him?
Only as God could He give eternal value to His suffering which
(figured from birth to death) lasted thirty three years, so that
this temporary suffering would be sufficient to remove the eternal
punishment of sin and to bring life and immortality to light.
Moreover, the Mediator had to be very God both to merit life, and to
restore life. Not only must the punishment be removed, and life
brought in, but that life must be brought in both by meriting and by
application. We cannot go to Jesus and in our own strength accept
and enter into the life He has merited. It is the work of Christ to
apply the blessings He has merited.
    
    Joshua the High Priest had the filthy garments taken away from
him and was clothed with change of raiment; he did not do all this
himself. How many want to accept Jesus in their own power! Of how
many we fear, that they are accepting Jesus with an historical
faith, and are comforting their souls with a fancied salvation,
because they do not understand that the Mediator can only be a
complete Savior when He not only merits, but also applies eternal
life? The practical denial of the Mediator's work in giving life,
which is so prevalent in these days, is no less than the total
negation of the Mediator's ability to fulfill the demand that He be
very God. We are dead in sin, and no more than a corpse can accept,
though the whole world be proffered to him, no more can our souls
accept the merited salvation. The Mediator must be God, in order
that He may merit and apply the righteousness and life that we have
forfeited and lost.
    
    The Mediator who was to redeem Adam's lost sons had to be God
and man - the one Mediator; He must therefore in one person be
really righteous man and very God; He must possess both natures
united in one person. Hence there are no two mediators, one being
God and one being man, no! only one Mediator, Who combined both
natures in the unity of His Person; God, the Son, the Second Person
in the blessed Trinity Who took upon Himself a human nature, not a
human person; one Mediator Who in answer to the question, "*Who* art
Thou?" can say, "I am the Son of God," and at the same time to the
question, "*What* art Thou?" can say, "Very God and very man." What
an incomprehensible mystery! Two natures united so closely in one
person that all that is done in the human nature was an act of the
Son of God! "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." God was
manifest in the flesh, was justified in the Spirit, was seen of the
angels;" God was seen in our nature, the Second Person in our flesh;
God was judged guilty and was justified since He became man; God
suffered; God died, not in the Divine, but in the human nature. What
He accomplished in the human nature was the work of the Divine
Person, and was therefore of eternal value, could therefore pay the
eternal debt, and could therefore conquer death, since the eternal
One even in death remained united with the human nature. We deprived
ourselves of life; He merited life and restored life. Oh, how great
is the redemption of the sinner fallen in Adam; it is a work of God.
There is no other foundation for reconciliation than the death of
the Mediator, Who is in one person both very God and a real
righteous man.
    
    Now then, the instructor in the third place
    
    III
    
reveals the Person of the Mediator.
    
    "Who then is that Mediator, who is in one person both very God,
and a real righteous man?"
    
    "Our Lord Jesus Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."
    
    Up to now the Mediator Himself remained concealed; His name was
not given; but now, after the qualifications of the Mediator were
determined, after the soul must acknowledge that none other than the
Son of God can be the Mediator, now the Catechism tells you, that
Mediator is our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see how the Mediator is
born in the soul of His people as the fully matured fruit of the
soul? Oh, how long God's children can roam about without Him,
seeking Him for years, for long years in an empty sepulchre, feeling
within themselves the insufficiency of all comforts, the
consciousness that all is too short to cover them before the
judgment seat of God, and feeling also a strong desire to learn to
know that Mediator, and yet complaining, "I do not see Him."
    
    Now I do not say that all are led in the same way, no, indeed;
contrariwise the ministrations of the Holy Spirit are so rich, so
manifold, that we should dishonor God if we would attempt to make a
model of His organic work. But I do fear for those who, without
understanding that the revelation of Christ is a miracle of God's
grace, think they possess Him. The saving knowledge of the Mediator
is a work of the Holy Spirit, so that the soul shall testify, "It
pleased God to reveal His Son in me."
    
    There He stands before us, the Mediator, as He is, very God and
man, our Lord Jesus Christ. No, those to whom He revealed Himself
will never be able to express what lies in that revelation. John
makes you feel something of the wonder of it when he mentions the
hour in which it happened. When he with Andrew followed Jesus, saw
where He dwelt and stayed with Him that day, when his eyes were
opened for His glory, for Him, never, no, never will he forget that
moment. "It was the tenth hour." Thus when all hope of salvation is
gone, and all that is of man proves insufficient, that people who,
when they perished in self, learned to know the Lord Jesus, will
never forget the hour. Of Him they must cry out, "He is altogether
lovely." In Him there is an all-sufficiency of salvation for lost
sinners. He of the Father is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption. The instructor has literally
quoted what Paul wrote in I Cor. 1:30, where he presents Christ as
having been given of the Father. We have a given Jesus, one given of
the Father.
    
    The Mediator once said, "My Father giveth you the true bread
from heaven," and also "No man can come to Me, except the Father
which has sent Me draw him."
    
    May the given Jesus be our portion, the One given in Bethlehem's
manger, One given into death and into glory, also given in our
heart.
    
    The grounds for all true communion with Christ, not only for the
church of God in general, but also for each believer in particular,
lie in the fact that the Mediator is given us by the Father.
Accepting Jesus by faith is only saying "Amen" to the gift of the
Father, and causes us to know Him as He was given by the Father,
first of all, says Paul, for wisdom. We are all foolish in the ways
of the Lord. However much knowledge we gather, we do not know the
way of life. However highly the world praises his wisdom, man could
never have devised a way by which the sinner could come to God, and
never shall man by himself understand what God has planned for his
salvation. Even God's children must ever again bemoan their
spiritual ignorance, and they would wander from the right way had
not Christ been made true wisdom for them. He is Wisdom itself. He
enlightens our darkened understanding, and shows himself to be the
light of the world, so that even fools shall not err therein. Oh,
precious Savior. Would not everyone who hears the words of life from
Him, who is enlightened by His wisdom, answer Jesus' question, "Will
ye also go away?" as the disciples did, "Lord, to whom shall we go?
Thou hast the words of eternal life?" We shall be saved as fools;
the way to heaven is above our comprehension. The more this secret
is discovered to us, the less it is understood, and the more it is
adored. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He
will show them His covenant." The Lord Jesus was also given unto
righteousness and sanctification. These two belong together. His
righteousness covers the guilt of sin and sanctification takes away
the pollution of sin. We must be delivered from both.
    
    The Mediator of the Covenant of Grace took all the guilt of the
elect upon Himself and brought the all-sufficient sacrifice upon
Calvary, to be quickened on the third day by the Father, for our
justification. By Him the righteousness of God without the law is
manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the
righteousness of God which is by faith in Jesus Christ unto all and
upon all that believe, for there is no difference. The original
righteousness, therefore, which we had lost in Adam, Christ has
restored to apply it to His own. In His name therefore is "preached
the forgiveness of sins, and that from all things from which ye
could not be justified by the law of Moses."
    
    Furthermore, the Father gave His Only begotten Son in our flesh
to sanctification. Sin corrupted us. It not only made us guilty
before God, but it also corrupted our entire being. And now Christ
Who knew no sin, was made to be sin for us, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. He is the fountain opened to the
house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
uncleanness. In Him, in His resurrection and His sitting at the
right hand of God, all His people are glorified. In Him they are
perfect, free from guilt and cleansed from the pollution of sin, as
if they had neither known nor done any sin. Christ is also made unto
His people sanctification to renew them by His Holy Spirit, so that
sin will be suppressed in the soul, our flesh will be crucified, and
we mortify our own will and pleasure day by day. Thus He prepares
for Himself a church which shall one day serve Him without sin, and
He is glorified among those who are sold under sin, so that as a
branch of the vine, bearing fruit, it may be purged that it may
bring forth more fruit. He has both the power and the ability to do
so. He bowed Himself under guilt and sin, so that His people,
reconciled and sanctified, can sing with the Psalmist in Psalm 103:
    
        "Far as east from west is distant,
        He has all our sins removed."
    
    By faith God's children learn to know something of this here,
either in a greater or lesser degree. No, Christ does not leave His
work halftone; His deliverance is complete. For that purpose He was
given of the Father, and whoever finds salvation in Him shall have
the full salvation. That is the secret in which all the people of
God, both small and great, rejoice. If only an eye of faith may fall
upon that Emmanuel, our soul has full salvation in Him, whether we
are the most timid and fearful, or the most established in grace.
And yet, a greater deliverance tarries still. Soon when our race is
ended, when we have served God's counsel, and He receives us in
glory, then, yea, then the people purchased by Christ shall sing of
the complete deliverance, and will glorify the Lamb because He
bought them with His blood. In heaven there shall be no
imperfection, but the perfect redemption for which God gave Christ,
demands also the eternal glorification of our body.
    
    Both soul and body must be freed from all bonds of sin and of
the results of sin; then in the adoration of Him that sitteth upon
the throne and of the Lamb, the church shall receive the complete
redemption to all eternity.
    
    Although the true knowledge of the only Mediator and Redeemer is
experimental, obtained by the instruction of the Holy Spirit, yet
that experience does not stand alone. God leads His people according
to His Word. If men speak not according to that Word, it is because
there is no light in them. God's own Word, the holy Gospel, is
therefore shown to be as our final point tells us
    
    IV
    
the only source of our knowledge of the Mediator.
    
    Question 19 asks: "Whence knowest thou this?" And the answer is,
"From the holy gospel."
    
    By the law is the knowledge of sin, and by the Gospel we learn
to know the only true Mediator as very God and very man. That makes
this knowledge so sure. We have not followed cunningly devised
fables. They have followed cunningly devised fables who build upon
vain philosophy and worldly wisdom; they devise a way of salvation
which is nothing but a deceptive path to hell. "Beware lest any man
spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of
men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." How
they are to be pitied that place their hope upon man's imaginations.
"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to
this word, it is because there is no light in them." God's Word is
the light in which the church of old has walked, "a lamp for our
feet." Oh, that our soul also might rejoice in that light, and would
not forsake it for the will-o-the-wisp of our feeling. No, there is
no life without feeling; everything that has natural life has
feeling, whether it be plant, animal, or human; would then God's
quickened people be without spiritual feelings? To be unfeeling
regarding God and spiritual matters is a product of death.
Nevertheless, if we float upon our feelings, and that feeling
becomes our foundation and our life, we wander away from the firm
foundation upon which Zion is built, for Zion is built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets.
    
    This our Catechism tells us: Christ is to be known by the light
of the Spirit, through the Gospel only. The more our soul is
exercised in the Word of God, the more brightly that heavenly light
shines upon us, the clearer our knowledge shall be of Christ, the
Mediator of the Covenant of Grace; while leaning upon felt
impressions darkens the knowledge and we are tortured with many
doubts, with unbelief and despair, and Satan's attacks, which causes
God's people to deny God's grace whenever they lose the actual sense
of God's nearness, all that God has wrought in their soul, and thus
they grieve the Spirit and minimize God's love.
    
    With all seriousness I would call you back to the Word of God.
Let us come down from our heights, people of God! The myrtle tree
grows in low places.
    
    Tell me, who would ever have found the way of life without the
Word of God? Shall one blind heathen ever come to Christ if the
Gospel is not preached to him? Do not thousands upon thousands year
after year go to eternity lost, because they remained strangers of
the truth that alone can speak to them of the only Savior? Has the
Lord then in vain revealed Himself in that Word? The upright always
turn to the truth to try their soul's experience by it, and to
refresh his afflicted, weary, and thirsty soul at this fountain of
God's revelations.
    
    Only the Gospel tells us that Jesus Christ came into this world
to save sinners, that He is the Mediator, the Fountain of salvation.
It is that holy gospel "which God Himself first revealed in
Paradise; and afterwards published by the patriarchs and prophets,
and represented by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law;
and lastly, has fulfilled it by His only begotten Son."
    
    "I will put enmity between thee and the woman; and between thy
seed and her seed, it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise
his heel", thus was the gospel revealed in Paradise by God Himself,
just when man had cast himself into the claws of Satan, who thought
he had won the victory over God's creature.
    
    The glad tiding is from God and was brought by Himself to lost
man. Also the patriarchs from Adam to Jacob, and the prophets, both
major and minor from the days of Moses, spoke only through Him,
moved by the Holy Ghost; while the sacrifices and other ceremonies
represent the Gospel, only because God had given them; and much was
contained therein. Every sacrifice was thus a presentation of
Christ; all the ceremonies are a revelation of the blessings of the
covenant, which was fulfilled in the Father's only begotten Son. For
Christ is the end of the law to every one that believes. Oh, that
dear Word of God; when I found it, I did eat it, and it was sweeter
than honey and the honey comb.
    
    No, indeed, the church of old did not receive a half gospel, but
the full revelation of Christ was given to them also, and was shown
in many examples and in living types, as in Joseph, Joshua, Samson,
David, and others. Indeed, Israel itself was a type of the promised
Mediator. That entire nation and all that God had given it pointed
to Him, the true seed of David, of Whom Paul could write, "And
without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness."
    
    Come, let us sing of it, Psalter No. 333 st. 3, 4.
    
    Application
    
    Despisers of God's Word, you have reason to tremble. You scorn
the revelation of God to your condemnation. Your likeness is found
in Israel in the days of Zedekiah: They mocked the messengers of
God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until (oh,
hear this:) until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people
till there was no remedy." Oh, that you might learn to bow to His
truth before you reach that stage, before your breech is
irreparable, and you will hear throughout all eternity--"no remedy".
You are still living in the day of grace, in the possibility of
being saved.
    Were life and death not presented to you? Dare you deny it? If
not, my fellow-traveler to eternity, what is left for you but to
reproach yourself, and say, "It is my own fault! I would not!"
    The Gospel also opens to God's people the way of life. May that
opening become ever wider. May our souls obtain a true knowledge of
Christ. Would He then not become most precious to you? Be hungry for
the Word of God. There may come a time also for you that the Lord
shall "send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a
thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord." Appreciate
then what the Lord still gives. Make much use of the Gospel. In your
thinking and reading and hearing stay close to the mind of the
Spirit. Do not spiritualize. God's Word is Spirit and life and needs
not to be spiritualized. Try to understand the thoughts of God
recorded in the Gospel, and the Lord bless your use of the
Scriptures, that your soul may embrace the promises of God and that
you may glory by faith, saying, "It is fulfilled, fulfilled in
Christ", for in Him all the promises of God are yea, and Amen, unto
the glory of God.
    
    May your soul live out of that fulfillment in Christ of which
the Gospel gives us such a rich testimony.
    
    Those of you who are convinced of your sin and guilt, seek to
know that only Mediator by faith. We cannot be saved without Jesus.
May He manifest Himself unto you as He does not unto the world.
Persevere with Him, seek Him in the streets and in the broad ways of
Jerusalem, until you have found Him. Then your life will be so
different! Then He will have the highest place in your life and His
banner over you will be love. Then you shall feel more and more the
necessity of being found in Him, for in Him is the rest that remains
to the people of God. Exercise yourself much in the Word, in which
He is revealed in all His mediatorial gravings. May those who are
confirmed in their state receive ever more out of His fulness grace
for grace, so that they may come up out of the wilderness like
pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all
powders of the merchant, glorious in stature through Him who of God
is made unto them wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
redemption. Amen.
    
    
    
    
    
True Faith, the Line of Separation
    
Lord's Day 7
    
    
Psalter No. 426 st. 6, 8
Read Rom. 9:14-33
Psalter No. 73 st. 1, 5, 6
Psalter No. 381 st. 2
Psalter No. 428 st. S
    

Beloved:
    
    Before the foundation of the world, God in His sovereignty has
determined who among Adam's posterity shall be saved, and who shall
not be saved. Election and reprobation are both parts of
predestination, of which Paul wrote in the Chapter that was read to
you. "Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated." That election was
not because of foreseen faith and good works, nor was reprobation
because of foreseen unbelief and evil works. Predestination is hence
not a decree of God based upon mercy and righteousness, but upon
absolute sovereignty. That sovereignty in eternity drew a line
between Jacob and Esau, between those that are saved and those that
are lost. God has appointed, as Paul says in I Thess. 5:9, some to
wrath and some to salvation. While before the foundation of the
world God has thus drawn a line between those that will be lost and
those that will be saved, in time that line is drawn by true faith.
God grants His elect that faith by which they are in grafted into
Christ and receive all His benefits. Thus they actually accept that
salvation in Him which they already have in Him objectively, as the
Form for the Administration of Baptism so simply and truthfully
states: "The Holy Ghost assures us that He will apply unto us that
which we have in Christ, namely, the washing away of our sins, and
the daily renewing of our lives, till we shall finally be presented
without spot or wrinkle among the assembly of the elect in life
eternal."
    
    Beyond a doubt, they are those who were chosen in Christ, who
have remission of sins in Him; they, and they only who are included
in Him, as their Head, and definitely not all people that are
presented for baptism. As all men have fallen in Adam, so the elect
in Christ are reconciled with God and are made to sit in heavenly
places with Him in favour and communion with God. But that which
they have in Christ they must be made to be partakers of in time,
because they too, by nature are children of wrath, as were the
others. They also are included in the fall of Adam, and are without
Christ in the world. Although they are born and brought up under the
light of the gospel, as far as their state is concerned, they are
"strangers and sojourners," and the ingrafting in Christ is
indispensable, if they are to obtain salvation in Him. That
ingrafting in Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit and takes place
by faith, that is planted by the Holy Spirit Himself in
regeneration, in the hearts of those chosen in Christ and purchased
by His blood.
    
    He that lacks that ingrafting in Christ by faith to life, is
subject to condemnation in Adam, and dead in trespasses and sins.
Faith therefore draws the line of separation between those that are
in Adam and those that are in Christ. I now ask your attention to
this matter as I am to discuss with you the seventh Lord's Day of
our Heidelberg Catechism.
    
    Lord's Day 7
    
Q. 20: Are all men then, as they perished in Adam, saved by Christ?
    
A. No; only those who are ingrafted into Him, and receive all His
    benefits, by a true faith.
    
Q. 21: What is true faith?
    
A. True faith is not only a certain knowledge, whereby I hold for
    truth all that God has revealed to us in His Word, but also an
    assured confidence, which the Holy Ghost works by the gospel,
    in my heart; that not only to others, but to me also, remission
    of sin, everlasting righteousness and salvation, are freely
    given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ's
    merits.
    
Q. 22: What is then necessary for a Christian to believe?
    
A. All things promised us in the gospel, which the articles of our
    catholic undoubted Christian faith briefly teach us.
    
Q. 23: What are these articles?
    
A.

I   I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and
    earth;
    
II  And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord;
    
III Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary;
    
IV  Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried;
    He descended into hell;
    
V   The third day He rose again from the dead;
    
VI  He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God
    the Father Almighty;
    
VII From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead;

VIIII believe in the Holy Ghost;
    
IX  I believe an holy catholic church; the communion of saints;
    
X   The forgiveness of sins;
    
XI  The resurrection of the body;
    
III And the life everlasting. Amen.
    
    In this Lord's Day faith is shown to be the line of demarcation
when:
    
      I salvation is ascribed to them who partake of Christ by
    faith,
    
     II the essence of faith is described, and
    
    III the contents of faith is given briefly.
    
    The sixth Lord's Day of the Heidelberg Catechism presented the
Mediator of the Covenant, the Emmanuel, God with us, in His
all-sufficiency and ability. He was revealed by the Father as the
seed of the woman in Paradise and later came as the all-fulfilling
One, purchasing His people with His blood, as the prophets and the
ceremonies testified. Now understand me well, all men are reckoned
in Adam, and hence are fallen in perdition; only the elect are
reckoned in Christ to their salvation, and they, and only they are
ingrafted in Christ by faith and partake of His benefits. Thus the
line of separation is drawn between those that will be saved and
those that will be lost. The Catechism therefore places before us
the question:
    
    "Are all men then, as they perished in Adam, saved by Christ?"
And then the scriptural and decisive answer is "No."
    
    Every single person from Adam to the very last one that shall be
born, every one of them is reckoned in Adam, but Christ is not the
Covenant head of all these people. Grace is not universal, and all
men shall not be saved in Christ.
    
    Are then the merits of Christ not sufficient to save all people?
Oh yes, viewing those merits in themselves, you must admit that
their atoning power is boundless.
    
    God's wrath, that perfect, endless loathing of everything that
is sin, that demands complete satisfaction for sin, burns in full
force upon all the children of Adam. Christ has borne that full
wrath in both body and soul; and has pacified that wrath. That is
the point; the fruit of that pacification of God's wrath and of the
satisfaction of God's justice is, according to sovereign love,
limited by election and the eternal Covenant of Grace to those given
to Christ by the Father. It is certainly not for everyone. Because
of the virtue and value of His mediatorial work, we have in the
ministry perfect liberty to publish salvation to all; to declare
that none is too bad, no one's debt is too great; and to show
everyone who hears the Word the dreadful responsibility that rests
upon him, and the judgment that shall fall upon him if he hardens
himself; for all excuses for sin are taken away, and the woe of
Chorazin and Capernaum hang over his head; nevertheless, Christ
became the Surety for His elect, and to them, to them only He will
apply what He has merited.
    
    But is it not written, "For God so loved the world, that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life?" There was then no separation in
His love. He loved the entire world and gave His son for it. Now it
depends upon ourselves whether we accept that love or reject it. If
we believe, that salvation is ours. Is not this the correct
explanation?
    
    There really are people who thus pervert the truth to their own
destruction. They thereby deny sovereign election and the
substitutionary work of Christ, as though the Mediator had died for
all people, and salvation depends on man's free will. They take hold
of more texts. Does not Paul say in I Tim. 2:4 that God wills that
all men be saved? And do you not read in II Peter 3:9, "The Lord is
long suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish but
that all should come to repentance." Stronger still, boasts the old
Pelagian and his successor, the Remonstrant, and all those sickly
dreamers about God's love, Paul speaks almost irrefutably in Romans
5: The gift of grace is greater than sin, says Paul. Through the
offense of one many are dead, but much more the grace of God
abounded unto many. "Therefore as by the offense of one judgment
came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of
one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."
Thus they conclude that salvation is for all men and it depends on
us whether we shall enter that salvation.
    
    But that conclusion is against Scripture. When John testifies
that God loved the world, he does not state that Christ was given
for all the people on that world, but he only shows that it was not
for fallen angels, but mankind is the object of God's eternal mercy.
That God wills salvation for all men does not mean that it is God's
will that each and every person shall be saved, for if that were
God's will, who would prevent Him from doing what He pleases? But
with God there is no respect of persons. Therefore supplications
shall be made for all men, for kings and for all those that are in
authority. For God wills that all, means all classes of men, whether
great or small, rich or poor, whoever they may be, shall be saved,
as He has shown throughout the ages in bringing sinners to
conversion. Always read Scripture in context. Then we shall also
understand Peter in his second epistle in which he refers to those
called and chosen, whose are the promises, of which He wills that
none should perish. How can anyone think Peter's words refer to all
men, without inferring that God is unable to execute His will, since
many go to eternal perdition. To direct our attention to Romans 5,
you shall never understand Paul's strong argument if you do not see
that Paul is contrasting the two covenant heads, and that the "many"
and "all" refer every time to those who are represented in these
covenant heads. All and many in relation to Adam means each and
every man, but those words in relation to Christ are the elect who
are all in Him before the foundation of the world. Only they will be
saved who are in Christ Jesus, and therefore they are ingrafted in
Christ by a true faith and receive all His benefits, as our
Catechism says, and that statement we must heed closely. Here are
many snares of Satan, and the enmity of our nature against free
grace is great.
    
    Ingrafted in Christ by true faith! That true faith is a gift of
God, as Paul says in Eph. 2. "By grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." There is so much
imitation of that true faith, so much faith that does not bear the
stamp of the Holy Spirit, and hence does not graft the soul into
Christ. There is only one faith that leads to salvation, that faith
which grafts us into Christ, and by which we receive His benefits.
Whatever you may think of yourself, very conscientious, well meaning
or whatever you call it, without being ingrafted in Christ,
everything, everything shall fall away at death like the sandy
ground in the parable. That ingrafting in Christ is wrought by the
Holy Spirit which works faith in our heart.
    
    True faith is of an entirely different nature than historical,
temporary and miraculous faith. In all of them there is not even the
least particle of true faith, however much they may seem outwardly
to be like it.
    
    An historical faith is nothing but a mere assent to a known
truth. If you would ask such an historical believer whether he
believes what the Bible says, he would surely answer affirmatively,
for he holds God's Word to be the truth.
    
    Agrippa had such an historical faith, therefore Paul asked him,
"King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou
believest." But still he was not concerned about the salvation of
his soul. It is much to be feared that many get no farther than King
Agrippa, although they live with the church. Historical faith is
necessary, but not enough. James would say, "Thou believest that
there is one God; thou does well; the devils also believe and
tremble."
    
    Temporary faith goes deeper. A temporary believer differs from
an historical believer in that he receives the truth with some
outward joy, the word has taste for him. In Matth. 13 the Lord
compares the temporary believer to the seed sown in stony ground.
But he lacks the inward sincere delight in the truth of God that is
the portion of all God's children. He knows nothing of the opening
of the Scriptures for the poor, lost sinner, because the seed of the
Word had no root in him to show him his misery and he had no true
sorrow for sin, as an affront against the holy Majesty of God.
Temporary faith does not yield fruit. Temporary faith lacks all the
real characteristics of true faith. It does not unite the soul to
Christ, and therefore it lacks the principle of life and it withers
away. It is temporary.
    
    Both historical and temporary faith are founded on God's Word.
Miraculous faith is not. Miraculous faith is the strong conviction
that a miracle shall be wrought on us or by us. It can be exercised
by God's people, as, for example, the apostles, who wrought
miracles, or the leper who returned to Christ. But it is very
different from saving faith. Consider those ten lepers. They all had
faith; they showed it, else they would not at the Lord's command
have departed to show themselves to the priest. What could they,
lepers, do by the priest? They had to go to the priest only after
they had been cleansed. Still they went without contradiction upon
the command of Christ; for they all believed; they all had that
strong feeling that He would work a miracle of healing in them. That
was all the nine had. The Lord Jesus was to them a miracle-doctor.
One, only one, sought in Him the salvation of his soul. That one was
a Samaritan. Many shall say, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in
Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done
many wonderful works?" But the dreadful words shall sound in their
ears, "Depart from Me, ye that work iniquity."
    
    Let not the miracle be everything for us. One miracle is
necessary for us, that we, being spiritually dead, should awaken.
"Though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, and have
not charity, I am nothing."
    
    If we lack true faith, that of the elect, we have no part with
Christ, and if we lack Christ the condemnation rests upon us. True
faith separates those that shall be saved from those that shall be
lost. Only by true faith are we ingrafted in Christ, and the result
is that we accept his gifts. But he who is not ingrafted in Christ,
cannot accept his benefits. How closely, how very closely we must
examine ourselves, and inquire after the essence of true faith, as
does the Catechism:
    
    "What is true faith?" To this question the instructor gives a
clear and simple answer:
    
    "True faith is not only a certain knowledge whereby I hold for
truth all that God has revealed to us in His Word, but also an
assured confidence, which the Holy Ghost works by the gospel, in my
heart; that not only to others, but to me also, remission of sin,
everlasting righteousness and salvation are freely given by God,
merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ's merits." This answer
leads us to consider our second point:
    
    II
    
the essence of faith described.
    
    Let us in the first place notice that the Catechism does not
speak of the quintessence of faith, but of faith itself in its
character, nature and essence.
    
    The description is written so that whoever lacks what is here
described, lacks true faith, and therefore has no part with Christ
and salvation.
    
    This faith draws a line of separation between those that shall
be saved and those that are lost. There is no other way. Certainly
there are steps in faith and there are steps in the life of grace,
but that is beside the point now. To the view that the Seventh
Lord's Day speaks of the quintessence, not of the essence of faith,
(or else that particular application, and an inward assurance of the
forgiveness of our sins in Christ are not essential to the essence
of faith) many of our godly fathers including Vander Groe had very
weighty and insoluble objections. We may not drop that clear and
Biblical description our fathers gave us both here and elsewhere.
    
    But do not forget that the exercise of this true faith is not
always just as energetic and clear in all God's people. With Comrie
we differentiate between the grace and the act of faith.
    
    The acts of faith flow from the grace of faith. What the
Catechism and the Form for the Lord's Supper says so beautifully
always refers to the grace of faith, while the act of faith may be
so defective that very few of its characteristics are evident. If
this were more correctly considered, we would understand and agree
with the description given of the essence of faith, indeed that
description would not depress or exclude any of the upright, but on
the contrary, it would be a means of delivering us out of much
darkness and strengthening our faith.
    
    By saving grace "I hold for truth all that God has revealed to
us in His Word." This is the fruit that faith yields in the soul and
it increases as it grows.
    
    By faith a blessed light falls upon God's truth that makes one
experience its liberating power. Then we not only stop that sinful
despising of God's Word and attempting to escape it, but it also
puts an end to our formal, dry and dead life, with which so many
religious people are content, albeit to their eternal perdition. The
eyes of our understanding are enlightened to know the truth that is
in Jesus. "Thy Word is a lamp for my feet, a light upon my path",
says such a believer. His soul hungers after the eternal truth of
God more than his body for bread. This truth causes him to delve
into the revealed mind of God to find the life of his soul. He often
experiences either in his private reading, for which he often
sacrifices some of his sleep, or when he goes to God's house, the
comforting fruit. He knows the voice of God; it seems to him that
the Lord Himself speaks to him.
    
    It is a certain knowledge; in that knowledge of faith there is
no doubt; it is firm. However much the world may shrug its shoulders
mockingly about the Word of God; whatever the "wise" may say about
the impossibility of the Word's being true, faith does not waver,
but exalts itself far above those unstable and weak, hellish attacks
upon God's revelation. Faith can stand a few knocks, and the
believer shall not perish in doubt. Faith is a certain, that is, a
firm knowledge of the promises of God. These with their rich
contents are unlocked, applied, and embraced, so that the soul can
plead upon them, for pleading upon God's promises is a work of
faith.
    
    Thus the firmness of faith does not consist in the believer's
ability to state the doctrines clearly for himself and for others.
Here again it is the work of Christ that is decisive, "Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as
wheat; but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." That
intercession is enough, and gives a firmness to faith, making that
knowledge so sure, that all doubt must flee. In the believer there
are both faith and unbelief, but in faith itself there is not the
least doubt. Faith and unbelief are mutually exclusive; this
knowledge is immovably firm. But it can very well be that unbelief
causes the believer to doubt. See Thomas who firmly rejected all the
messages of Christ's resurrection, and boldly declared that he would
not believe until he had seen and touched. Oh, that God dishonoring
doubt that disbelieves what the soul shortly before had embraced in
faith.
    
    And yet, however often the believer doubts, that faith is still
a certain knowledge, that does not waver, but embraces all that God
has revealed in His Word.
    
    Yea, faith is also a certain trust; faith causes the soul to
lean upon Christ. Whenever that faith is exercised, a light arises
that clears up the darkness, but also that sinking, that resting and
trusting comes to shame us for our doubting; and causes us to
embrace the truth of God's work and the salvation in Christ. Read in
that light what the instructor says of that confidence, namely that
the Holy Ghost works it in our heart by the gospel. This is affirmed
in the life of God's children. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. Now let us continue, that confidence concerns
this: "that not only to others, but to me also remission of sin,
everlasting righteousness and salvation are freely given by God,
merely of grace only for the sake of Christ's merits." How hard this
is for many people.
    
    Just that causes the struggle for those who see salvation in
Christ for those who are lost, but lack the appropriation and
assurance of faith. On the one hand they cannot deny what God has
done to them, but on the other hand, oh, how they are attacked by
Satan, who tells them that the remission of sins, everlasting
righteousness and salvation are for others, for God's people, but
not for them. If only they could believe that they were partakers of
Christ, but they are often so distressed at the thought that they
yet lack Christ. Oh, they fear death. Solomon's chariot had a
covering of purple, the red of atoning blood, but their soul has no
covering. God's justice demands, and their righteousness is too
short. There is salvation only in Christ, and Him they want. Thus
many of God's children spend long years, although they do not let go
of God's promise. The point is now, if faith is a certain knowledge
and an assured confidence that to me also salvation is given in
Christ, have those souls then no faith?
    
    We must distinguish between the grace and the exercise of faith,
as we said above. Then you have the answer. In the exercise of faith
there can be such a defect; the exercise may be beset with much
darkness in knowledge, and uncertainty in the confidence; but faith
itself, as a gift of grace, does not waver. That is shown in the
exercise of it. Tell us, doubting souls, when you are in a lively
frame, when faith breaks through, is there doubt then? Do you then
say, "It is for others, but not for me?" Certainly not. Then you
embrace that salvation and redemption which is in Christ. "Not only
to others, but also to me", that is the voice of faith, that glories
only in grace. It is "merely of grace", not mixed with anything of
ourselves, pure grace which excludes all works. Where is boasting
then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay; but by the law of
faith. Of grace, yea of grace alone God's people shall sing to their
last breath. By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves; it is God's gift. By grace remission of sins,
everlasting righteousness and salvation are given, only for the sake
of Christ's merits.
    
    By the grace of faith, all those who are called out of death
unto life are in grafted in Christ and they partake of His benefits.
But let us not misuse this comforting doctrine of faith by supposing
that it is now less necessary to experience this union with Christ
by the exercise of faith. This would be contrary to the essence of
faith. Does not God's Word teach the assurance of faith? Do you not
know what Paul said, "For I know whom I have believed, and am
persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto
Him against that day?" Do you really think that the benefits of the
New Testament were less than those given to Job? This severely tried
servant of God gloried in the face of death, not during sweet
communion, or under the sweet influences of God's love, but under
the sad hiding of God's face, and under the fierce assaults of
Satan; and while his friends think him a hypocrite, in a word, under
indescribable darkness, Job gloried; "For I know that my Redeemer
liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth."
Even then faith had power, and a hope for perfect salvation with
Christ lived in Job's soul. Is that not written so that we too shall
seek to attain that assurance, that we shall seek to experience in
the exercise of faith, what we have received in the grace of faith.
Salvation does not depend on the assurance, but we should strive
earnestly to attain to perfection. Being constantly assured of God's
grace to us is a second grace. All this does not change the fact
that the grace of faith makes all God's children partakers of these
benefits, so that they embrace by faith:
    
    "All things promised us in the Gospel, which the articles of our
catholic undoubted Christian faith briefly teach us."
    
    This brings us to our third point,
    
    III
    
the contents of faith.
    
    We cannot live with less than the instructor here explains, but
we do not need more. To be saved it is necessary, but also
sufficient to believe in God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Ghost. What faith in the Triune God means is comprehended very
briefly in the 12 articles of faith which Luther condensed into
three articles, expressing faith in the three Divine Persons. The
twelve articles are a development of the formula for baptism in
Matth. 28:19, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost."
    
    The story that each of the Apostles wrote one article of this
creed is fictitious. The Twelve Articles date from the end of the
second century. The name Apostles' Creed was given to this
confession because of its apostolic contents, not because the
apostles composed it. That which is expressed in this creed agrees
perfectly with the apostles' doctrine. They are the articles of our
catholic, undoubted Christian faith, of our catholic, or universal
faith. The Romish church has wrongly appropriated the term catholic
to itself. It is the false church. The contents of the only, true
catholic faith is summarized briefly in the twelve articles. Let
others think what they please, this is the contents of our undoubted
Christian faith.
    
    What God has promised in the Gospel is so wonderful. It includes
all His people need for soul and body, for time and eternity. All
the blessings of the covenant of grace are bequeathed in the
promises of God to the church, and by faith it receives the benefits
of them. It is necessary to believe all of this, for nothing of the
promised salvation can be spared, and all the saints were saved by
that Gospel. How our soul should be exercised with the promises of
the gospel to understand them better, and to fathom the depth of
God's salvation and love therein, and to find in those promises a
foundation upon which we may plead with the Lord to grant us the
promised salvation.
    God's people are set upon the Word of the Lord; that is their
touchstone and their comfort in their afflictions. If only that Word
is opened to them, they lose themselves in adoration and cry out
with the poet of Psalm 138:
    "I cried to Thee and Thou didst save,
    Thy word of grace new courage gave."
                    Psalter No. 381 st. 2
    
    Application
    
    Was that saving faith planted in your soul? Alas, how many live
coldly on under the most effective ministry of the gospel. Heaven
does not comfort them, nor does hell terrify them. They have become
hardened to the warnings, as the smithy's dog to the sparks of fire.
The eternal love of God in Christ preached to poor sinners does not
enrapture them. The Gospel leaves them unmoved; God's promises have
no value; they believe, but their faith has only the characteristics
of historical faith. Oh, if only the invitation of the Gospel would
touch you! Would you remain lukewarm concerning the Gospel that
calls you to your eternal salvation? Would you say coolly, "I am
unconverted"? Would you not hasten for your life? Shall it not be
more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for
you? For they who knew the way and walked not in it, shall be beaten
with many stripes. Remember that distress which disappears as a
morning cloud and as an early dew is no part of the true life of
faith. They that build their hope upon the soul agonies they have
endured, may very well fear they have no more than temporary faith.
True faith unites our soul with Christ and causes us to live out of
Him. Outside of union with Christ there is only eternal perdition.
    
    That union by faith with Christ is so very different than a
superficial consideration of the Scriptures, and thus accepting
Jesus. Our days are full of such. Thousands come to Jesus with their
sins without ever learning to know their state of misery. They
believe Jesus and accept Him, while you look in vain for any true
characteristics of having been ingrafted by faith. They accept it on
authority of the Scriptures which they were taught. Is it surprising
that everyone who holds to the old doctrine hates such a
presentation of the union with Christ by faith, as it is taught in
the schools to our children and in the churches to all, whether
converted or unconverted? For in that presentation lies the
practical denial of man's state of death, and of our unwillingness
and inability to believe. Therefore it is misleading souls for
eternity and deadening the souls of the upright. Those who fear God,
learned it very differently. Oh friends, who have been truly humbled
before God, testify whether the ideas and understanding of the truth
of the Gospel which you have received by education do not fall away,
and frighten rather than comfort you, because you can make no use of
all your knowledge. I have known people who were very letter wise,
yet how well they knew the Gospel with their mind, out of legal fear
they almost spoke the language of the devils, "Art Thou come to
torment us before the time?" Remember Spira, of whom Comrie speaks,
and others. That superficial knowledge leaves us outside of Christ,
and if God does not prevent it, will some day increase our judgment.
"I believe," says Comrie, "that literal knowledge of the Gospel,
which we have rejected, will be a hell in the hell." The Lord plant
in you that saving grace that grafts you into Christ.
    
    The great difference between true life and the almost
Christendom that is dead, lies in this: that God's people are cut
off from Adam and are ingrafted in Christ. Without being cut off
there is no ingrafting. The fruit of this grafting is that the true
believer is drawn to Christ. Oh, do test yourself by these marks.
    
    In the conviction of our sins and in the humiliation of our soul
before the Lord, in spite of our condemnation, that hope lived that
bound us to God and caused us to cleave unto Him. It was the grace
in Christ that drew us, and in all our fears and misery called to
us, as it were, that there is forgiveness with the Lord, that He
might be feared. Then we took courage out of the salvation of great
sinners, who could glory in naught but grace, as Manassah and Saul.
Oh, then it could be possible that our soul would be saved from
death.
    
    Christ stood, as it were, behind a wall, but His love, His
loveliness, and His grace went out to His poor people, even though
they did not see them. Then there was hope, because sinners are
saved freely; then the Gospel opened for us and gave encouragement;
then they saw the salvation that God has prepared for His people,
and they learn to love the people and the service of God above all
else. Then they believed. And still that exercise of faith passed,
and sin and guilt weighed heavily upon them under the condemnation
of God's holy law, and unbelief became so strong that they could not
hold fast that God had ever done good things to them. Thus it went
up and down and they were tossed to and fro between faith and
doubts. They had to lose all their prayers, their tears and
everything to which they would hold, so that they would learn by
faith to know Christ alone as the way of life.
    
    Oh, hearken, ye souls who are weary because of your sins and
misery, hearken to the soul-winning invitation of the Lord, "Come
unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest for your souls." Let nothing prevent you from seeking refuge in
Him. True faith seeks no other refuge. And truly the Lord will not
cast His seeking people away. In the midst of all worry and fear,
the confidence of faith is at times so strong that we are above all
doubts. What then must the assurance of faith for our state for
eternity be? Does our soul then never again doubt? Oh yes, a
thousand times, if not about our state, then in one way or another.
But the more clearly we may embrace the promises of the Gospel, the
more our soul shall cleave to Him, Who testified, "Without Me ye can
do nothing," so we can not believe either. May He grant that living
exercise of faith which causes to know and trust Christ in his
mediatorial gravings more and more. May He strengthen our faith in
us so that even in darkness when there is no light, we shall trust
in Him Who does not forsake the work of His own hands. Amen.
    
    
    
    
    
Faith in the Holy Trinity
    
Lord's Day 8
    
    
Psalter No. 71 st. 3
Isaiah 45
Psalter No. 420 st. 5
Psalter No. 422 st. 4
Psalter No. 32 st. 3, 4


Beloved:
    
    The old covenant people, Israel, were highly privileged above
the heathens. The advantage of the Jew is, according to the word of
the apostle, much every way. In whatever manner you view Israel and
from whatever aspect you look at it, it has advantages above the
heathen, "chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles
of God." For in His Word, both in the Old and New Testament, the
Lord reveals Himself as much as is necessary in this life to His
glory and to the salvation of His elect.
    Also in nature God reveals Himself "by the creation,
preservation and government of the universe; which is before our
eyes as a most elegant book, wherein all creatures, great and small,
are as so many characters leading us to contemplate the invisible
things of God, namely, His power and divinity," as the apostle
saith. This revelation in nature, however, does not teach us the way
of salvation. The sun, moon and stars, yea, the entire creation, do
not tell us that God is one God and a Triune God, nor do they speak
of Christ, through Whom alone a sinner can be reconciled to God.
Paul also tells us that this revelation of God is sufficient to
convince men (namely, that there is a God) and to leave them without
excuse. Nobody, not even a blind heathen shall be able to say before
the judgment seat of God, "I did not know there was a God." For the
salvation of His people, He has revealed Himself in His Word, and
that Word He gave only to Israel under the old dispensation, but in
the days of the new covenant He gave it to all nations. How great
then was the advantage of the Jew and the profit of circumcision;
how great is the advantage of all who live in the light of the
Gospel. To them the way of salvation out of their misery is clearly
presented in God's Word; and life eternal is made known as
consisting of the knowledge of the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom He has sent. The means to attain this knowledge is given to
them, and by the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, it can bear fruit
unto salvation. For faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word
of God.
    
    In that Word, God has revealed Himself in Christ for the
salvation of His elect. That Word alone tells us there is one God,
speaks of His perfections, and teaches us the great mystery that God
is one in essence, but three in persons. We must now deal with the
Trinity according to the eighth Lord's Day of our Heidelberg
Catechism.
    
    Lord's Day 8
    
Q. 24: How are these articles divided?

A. Into three parts; the first is of God the Father, and our
    creation; the second of God the Son, and our redemption; the
    third of God the Holy Ghost, and our sanctification.

Q. 25: Since there is but one only divine essence, why speakest thou
    of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?

A. Because God has so revealed Himself in His Word, that these three
    distinct persons are the one only true and eternal God.

    This Lord's Day speaks of faith in the Holy Trinity. That faith
    
     I contains the humble acknowledgment of the existence of God;
    
     II embraces the revelation of the Trinity;
    
    III is a fountain of comfort for the people of God.
    
    I
    
    The seventh Lord's Day began the discussion of faith, and told
of its absolute necessity, of its true nature, and of the rich
summary of faith. Later Lord's Day 23 shall speak of the profit of
faith, and Lord's Day 25 of the Author of faith. The explanation of
what a Christian must believe is found in Lord's Days 8-22. In these
Lord's Days, that which is confessed in the twelve articles is
explained; and that explanation begins with discussing the mystery
of the Holy Trinity. A ready occasion for this discussion lies in
the division of these articles. This division is not arbitrary, but
is connected with that which led to composing the Twelve Articles,
namely the formula for baptizing: "I baptize thee in the Name of the
Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." Question 24 returns
to that basic confession, and asks, "How are these articles
divided?"
    
    "Into three parts; the first is of God the Father, and our
creation; the second of God the Son, and our redemption, the third
of God the Holy Ghost, and our sanctification."
    
    You may ask, and the unbeliever may cast before you, has not the
instructor forgotten something? Did he not forget to prove that
there is a God? Before going into more detail of the essence of God,
should he not have given proof that there is a God? So many people
deny it. The number of those who mock at God and at religion is
growing, and if it were proved that there is a God, atheism would
disappear.
    
    No, indeed, do not think that an atheist can be convinced. It is
with an atheist as it was with the Pharisees when Jesus was on
earth. No matter how many signs Jesus did, showing forth His divine
power and glory, they were not sufficient proofs for them that He
was the promised Messiah. He must show them a sign from heaven, to
prove His heavenly origin. Let the Lord's answer to them be also our
answer to the willfully blind atheist, "There shall no sign be given
thee, but the sign of Jonah, the prophet." In the day of judgment it
shall be shown to you in your eternal condemnation that there is a
God.
    
    The Catechism need not prove the existence of God. God has
revealed Himself in all men. Man has an innate knowledge of God, a
consciousness that there is a God. But the atheist treads upon that
consciousness and gives no heed to that voice. How then can you give
him any proof? No man is born an atheist; an atheist is made by
willfully hardening his conscience out of enmity against God. He
does not want to acknowledge that there is a God.
    
    Men have tried to prove the existence of God with five proofs
for those who deny it. But although these proofs may strengthen the
conviction of him who believe the existence of God, they cannot
convince the atheist. He willfully closes his eyes and says, "I see
no proof of the existence of God." He needs only to open his eyes
and give up his atheism. Then he shall see the works of God and
exclaim, "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament
shows His handiwork", then he shall hear the voice of his conscience
which tells him that there is a God, who tells us in His Word, "God
is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit
and in truth." He revealed Himself in nature and in Scripture. "Who
has ascended up into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind
in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment?" (Prov. 30:4)
"To whom then will you liken God? or what likeness will you compare
unto Him?" (Isa. 40:18) God's Word speaks of Him, beside Whom there
is no God. Why then ask for evidences to prove the existence of God
more clearly? Every attempt to prove that God exists must fail, if
this must serve to convince a willful atheist. Such an attempt is
even forbidden. The Reformers have always held this.
    
    In the conscience of even the blindest heathen there is an
impression that there is a God, and in no place upon earth will you
find even one nation without religion. That religion is not the
result of a scheme of the priests, as the atheists say. How could
the priests have such persuasive powers upon millions of heathens,
if there was not an innate consciousness in their heart that there
is a higher being "which we call God," as our confession says. God
is and has created the consciousness of His existence in the heart
of every man. We are born with that consciousness. And although the
blind heathens are polytheists, yet even in his blindness he shows
that he is conscious of the existence of God. Moreover, how would
men want to prove that there is a God? Must we show an image of God?
God is a spirit and cannot be seen by men's eyes. Or do men want
mathematical proof, as we prove that two times two are four? Only
bitter hatred of God would ask for such proofs "The fool says in his
heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt they have done abominable
works, there is none that does good." (Psalm 14:1) According to
God's Word they are fools, however learned they may be in the
opinion of worldlings, if they demand proof for the existence of
God; all their arguments are foolish, even though they may seem
wise. Foolish is everyone who tries to give proof to convince an
atheist. Do not seek to place yourself on a level with the atheist
to debate with him, but attack him in his conscience by summoning
him before the judgment seat of God, who gave also him that innate
consciousness that there is a God, and by whom he shall be judged.
Why does he still speak of God; why does he curse, if there is no
God? If he is given over to hardness of his heart, so that he
entirely neglects God, not deigning even to say His Name, you may
know that his condemnation is near. Even the devils believe there is
a God, and they tremble. Has man sunk lower than the devils?
    
    Thus every man, even every heathen, has an innate consciousness
that there is a God. That consciousness is strengthened by the
knowledge obtained from creatures outside of us, and particularly
from that which Scripture teaches us. True knowledge of God we
cannot have by nature. Therefore the Lord's Word tells us by nature
we are without God in the world. God's people receive that true
knowledge, because the Lord reveals Himself to them according to the
riches of His grace in Christ Jesus. God's elect receive a knowledge
of God in this life, a knowledge of His attributes, so that they
learn to bow before Him in the dust, to acknowledge their guilt, and
to make supplication to their Judge. They learn to know God, Whom
they do not see, but Whose love and mercy they experience to their
salvation. He is the God of their salvation, in Whose communion lies
their life, and Whom they shall praise and adore to all eternity.
    
    So the Catechism has not forgotten anything. He builds upon the
foundation laid in Scripture, and so he comes directly to the
doctrine of the Trinity. "Since there is but one only divine
essence, why speakest thou of Father, Son and Holy Ghost? Because
God has so revealed Himself in His Word, that these three distinct
persons are the one only true and eternal God."
    
    Thus we come to our second main point:
    
    II
    
that faith embraces the revelation of the Trinity.
    
    God has revealed Himself in His Word as the Triune God. Without
the Word we do not know this mystery. Nature does not speak of it;
sun, moon, stars, plants, trees and animals are not able to explain
the most exalted mystery of the Divine Trinity. In His Word, God
reveals Himself more clearly and perfectly than in nature. That Word
speaks of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Who are the only
true God; one in Essence, and three in Persons, an unfathomable
mystery for our understanding. Was it any wonder that the heathens
had no knowledge of this mystery? They knelt for Dagon, Baal,
Moloch, and Ashteroth, but they did not know the only true God; much
less did those polytheists know about the wonderful existence of God
in three Persons. I did not say consisting of three Persons, for the
glorious essence of God is not formed by the union of three persons,
as if one third of that Essence is in the Father, one third in the
Son and one third in the Spirit.
    
    In God all is one, without combination of parts or matters; and
so Scripture teaches us that the whole essence of God is in the
Father, but also in the Son, and also in the Holy Ghost. The Father
is God, the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God; the Father is
another, the Son is another, and the Holy Ghost is another.
Therefore these three names are not three names for the same Person,
but for three Persons. Nevertheless we have not three gods, but one
God. "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord." "Hence then, it
is evident that the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Father,
and likewise the Holy Ghost is neither the Father, nor the Son.
Nevertheless, these persons thus distinguished are not divided, nor
intermixed; for the Father has not assumed the flesh, nor has the
Holy Ghost, but the Son only. The Father has never been without His
Son, or without His Holy Ghost. For they are all three, co-eternal
and co-essential. There is neither first nor last; for they are all
three one, in truth, in power, in goodness and in mercy." (Art. 8
Belgic Confession) Oh, I pray, do stop asking questions, do not seek
to enter into this mystery; it is impossible. How could you,
insignificant man, who are of yesterday and know nothing, understand
God? Not he who understands, but he who relieves that He is, comes
to God. And he who believes, embraces the revelation of God in His
Word, that speaks clearly in both the Old and New Testament of this
Trinity. Already to Adam, God was known as the Triune God, and after
the fall He has revealed Himself to the elect as Father, Son and
Holy Ghost. Without knowledge of the Trinity there is no salvation.
Athanasius rightly confessed, "This is the catholic faith, which
except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved."
    
    The proofs for the Trinity are many. You need but choose a text
here and there. In Gen. 1:26 God says, "Let *us* make man in *our*
image, after *our* likeness." So God created man in His own image,
male and female created He them. Also in Gen. 3:22 "Behold the man
is become as one of us." This shows that there is more than one
person in the Godhead, when He says, "Let *us* make man in *our*
image"; and then He shows the unity when He says, "God created." It
is true that He does not say how many Persons there are. But what is
somewhat obscure in the Old Testament is very plain in the New. For
when our Lord was baptized in Jordan, the voice of the Father was
heard, saying, "This is My beloved Son"; the Son was seen in the
water, and the Holy Ghost appeared in the shape of a dove. This form
is also instituted by Christ in baptism, "Baptize all nations, in
the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." In
the Gospel of Luke the angel Gabriel addressed Mary, the mother of
the Lord, thus, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power
of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."
Likewise: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God
and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you." "There are three
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy
Ghost, and these three see one."
    
    Add to these the places where God and God, and Lord and Lord see
distinguished as in Psalms 45 and 110, and those where the three
persons are mentioned as in Psalm 33, texts that Hellenbroek quotes
and are familiar to us all. Hear how the Lord speaks: "I (God) have
overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorra." Thus
the Persons are distinguished as God and God. But why bring out more
proofs? In the texts quoted we have irrefutable proof that there are
three Persons in the one divine essence. Read Articles 8 and 9 of
our Belgic Confession.
    
    The texts we have mentioned are enough to cause us to embrace
the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as it has always been defended
against Marcion, Mani, Praxeas, Sabellius, Samosatenus, Arius and
others. Especially the Manicheans did much harm with their heathen
doctrine and Arius, who considered Christ as the first created
being, hence a creature. These two last named are best known.
Athanasius, still a young deacon in Alexandria, defended the truth
against the godless denial of the Divinity of the Son by Arius so
strongly, that Arius was condemned at the Council of Nicer in 325.
In the back of some Psalters we find the Nicene creed and the
confession of Athanasius composed in 333. Although the Jew and the
Mohammedan and the paganized Modernist deny it, God is one in
Essence and three in Persons. These Persons are distinct from each
other in their personal properties. The properties of His Essence
are known to us as the communicable and incommunicable attributes.
They belong to the Essence of God. The Father is eternal; the Son is
eternal; the Holy Spirit is eternal; and this can be repeated with
all the attributes of God's Essence.
    
    The personal properties of the three Persons belong only to each
alone. Thus the personal property of the Father is that He is of
Himself and exists by Himself; that of the Son, that He is begotten
by the Father; and that of the Holy Spirit, that He proceeds from
the Father and the Son. "Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten
Thee", God testifies in Psalm 2. By eternal generation, the Son is
the express image of His person, so very different from man who is
made in the likeness of God. Man also was created, but the Son was
begotten. With an incomprehensible, everlasting generation remaining
within the Divine Essence, He exists as the Second Person in the
Godhead, co-essential with the Father and the Holy Ghost. Thus the
word generation means that the Father communicated to His Son His
own Divine Essence. The personal property of the Holy Spirit is,
that He proceeds from the Father and from the Son. Therefore He is
not only called the Spirit of the Father, but also the Spirit of the
Son. Gal. 4:6: "God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father."
    
    With regard to His proceeding also from the Son, a bitter
conflict arose in the sixth century, which led to a schism between
the Eastern and the Western Church. The Eastern Church acknowledged
that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, but denied its
proceeding from the Son. The second and third Persons were placed in
a lower rank than the Father. The Western Church objected to this
and at the Council of Toledo in 589, the Filioque was added to the
confession, meaning "and from the Son". Father, Son and Holy Spirit
are one in truth, in power, in goodness and in mercy. If we deny
that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son, then the work of the
Spirit is separated from the work of the Son. The work of redemption
then becomes a kind of sanctifying, which is apart from Christ's
mediatorial work. The Lord Jesus, however emphatically teaches, that
the work of the Holy Spirit rests upon the work of the Son.
Therefore the Holy Spirit could not come, because Jesus was not yet
glorified. Dependence upon the mediatorial ministry of Christ in the
work of grace is closely connected with the proceeding of the Spirit
from the Father and from the Son.
    
    Thus we confess three Persons in one Essence; and we speak of
the Trinity, a word which is not found in the Bible literally, but
is still Biblical: 1 John 5:7, and therefore we may use the term.
Those who would introduce other terminology, hide under those new
terms their denial of this glorious doctrine, which is indispensable
for our salvation and will, if we may know anything of it, cause us
to cry out, "God is great, and we know Him not." Although this
doctrine far surpasses all human understanding, nevertheless, we now
believe it by means of the Word of God, but expect hereafter to
enjoy the perfect knowledge and benefit thereof in Heaven.
    
    It is thus established in the Word that the only and true God
exists in three Persons. This great mystery of His Divine existence
He has revealed, as we hear in the third place, so that faith in the
Holy Trinity may be a fountain of comfort to God's people.
    
    III
    
    This comfort is based upon the existence, but also in the divine
economy of the three Persons. To each of the three Persons, a
particular work is ascribed, of which the Belgic Confession speaks
in Article 9: "Moreover we must observe the particular offices and
operations of these three Persons toward us. The Father is called
our Creator, by His power; the Son is our Savior and Redeemer, by
His blood; the Holy Ghost is our Sanctifier, by His dwelling in our
hearts." In accordance with our confession, the Catechism also
speaks of the Father and our creation, of the Son and our
redemption, and the Holy Spirit and our sanctification. But do not
misunderstand this as though the Son and the Holy Spirit had no part
in the creation, as if one Person were excluded from the work of
another. It is not thus God spoke, "Let us make men," and in Isaiah
it really says, "For thy Makers are thy husbands." The Son also
created: "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made, and without
Him was not anything made that was made." "And the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters, and all the hosts of the heavens
were made by the breath of His mouth."
    As all three Persons were active in creation, so also in
redemption and sanctification. In speaking of the work of
redemption, whose work came to the foreground? Whose own work was it
to save sinners from hell? Was it not the Son's work? He, the second
Person took on our flesh and blood; He was born of Mary, He lay in a
manger, He suffered and died, He arose from the dead, and ascended
into heaven. You cannot say this of the Father, nor of the Holy
Ghost. The Son of God procured salvation. He is Jesus, that is
Savior, because He saves His people. Although He himself says, "No
man can come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me, draw him",
the work of redemption is the work of the Son. In the same way,
creation is the work of the Father and sanctification is the
personal work of the Holy Spirit. The Father is the origin of all
things. He is our Father because of creation, but also our Judge
because of sin. The Son is our Redeemer; only by Him the elect are
adopted as sons and daughters. The Holy Ghost, resting upon the
finished work of Christ, dwells in the heart of His people; He takes
of Christ and shows it to His own; He regenerates, leads into all
truth, comforts and abides with His elect forever. A Triune God is
the God of our salvation. The church of the Old Testament also knew
this only comfort: "Doubtless Thou art our Father, though Abraham be
ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not"; "Thou, O Lord, art
our Father, our Redeemer; Thy Name is from everlasting." They knew
the eternal Godhead of the Son. "Whose goings forth have been from
of old, from everlasting." They were prepared to honour the Son as
they honored the Father, by the power of the Holy Ghost, of Whom
Christ already spoke through Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon Me; because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings
unto the meek; He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to
them that are bound."
    
    Thus from the beginning, the work of the Holy Ghost was for the
restoration of the elect. No one ever is saved outside of Christ,
nor did anyone ever partake of the Mediator, but by the Holy Ghost.
As the Son of God once took on our human nature from the Virgin
Mary, so also once, the Holy Ghost was poured out on the Day of
Pentecost to abide with His people. Closely related to this is the
deliverance of the church from the bands of the law, in which it was
brought in the ministry of the shadows, and the boldness which it
has in Christ, when the Spirit bears witness with its spirit that it
is a child of God. Bound by unbelief, so many who are not strangers
to the work of grace, lack the inward boldness of heart, which is in
the better dispensation of the covenant in the believing conscious
knowledge of the three divine persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Yea, the Spirit is sent as the Comforter; that is the Advocate of
His people. John uses that same word of Christ in 1 John 2:1. The
church has an Advocate in heaven and an Advocate dwelling within it,
who takes its part against those that strive against them. God's
people may glory, "Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened
unto the Lord?", as we now sing from our Psalter No. 422, st. 4.
    
    Application
    
    Has that only God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit also become the
God of our salvation? Already in baptism, we were commended to the
Triune God. Father, Son and Holy Ghost have by that sign placed a
seal upon our forehead, confirming as it were with an oath, that He
is the God of the covenant. But who of us learned to understand
that? Do not many live on without observing it, without realizing
their state of misery, without standing still upon their path? As
far as their inner being is concerned, cannot many baptized people
be called heathens, notwithstanding the many labors God bestows on
us from day to day, inviting us by His Word to be saved?
Continually, as the God of the Covenant, the Father calls from
heaven and the Son sprinkles upon lost sinners for their salvation
His blood, which is called the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh
better things than that of Abel, and the Spirit testifies that He
will apply what Christ has merited.
    But who has believed that report? Who bowed down into the dust
before Him? Who came as a lost sinner to seek salvation in a Triune
God? Hundreds confess that they believe in Him as He is revealed in
His Word, but who of those hundreds knows Him by true faith? This is
life eternal that they know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ Whom Thou has sent. But where did you obtain that more than
superficial, that true saving knowledge? You, congregation, are
blessed whenever you leave the house of prayer in the Name of the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Did you receive this blessing with
faith in your heart? Or did that official act which is more than a
prayer, rebound from your hardened heart, which cast the Word of God
to the wind? Of how many we must fear, that they reject the love of
God, consider the blood of Christ an unclean thing, and grieve the
Holy Spirit? Oh, tell me, what will your end be? You shall one day
meet God, but how? You will meet Him as a consuming fire and
everlasting burnings, with whom no sinner can dwell. All excuse for
sinning is taken away. The Father's giving love, the Son's
self-sacrificing love and the Spirit's applying love, all call for
the saving of even the greatest of sinners. No sins are too many, no
self-righteousness too great, no one too young, not one is too old.
    
    Oh, where shall we hide ourselves, if we reject that love and
neglect so great a salvation? It will be as a gnawing worm when we
must eternally reproach ourselves and admit it is our own fault. May
His love break your stony heart, and urge you to seek Him for your
salvation. He, the Triune God, is worthy to be loved, served and
feared for His own sake. The value which the people of God see in
Him, causes them to love Him; the love of God constrains to a return
of love. The love which was shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy
Spirit that regenerated them, came to dwell in them, and ingrafted
them in Christ by faith, is the result of the drawing love of the
Father. That work of the Triune God causes them to leave the world,
sin, self and all - not by force, but willingly, with all their
heart. Oh, unutterable is the love by which the regenerated soul
goes out, seeking God and saying, "I will love Thee, O Lord, my
strength."
    
    Did your soul also come to that blessed knowledge of God's
Trinity?
    
    In our conviction we have to do with God, we have no knowledge
of the Divine Persons. We have sinned against God and we fear that
Divine Being, Who created us after His image, because of His
righteousness; but He draws us by His love and mercy. The
distinguishing knowledge of the Persons lies in Christ. Therefore,
our Catechism deals with the doctrine of the Trinity, after the
revelation of the way of salvation in Christ. Thus our soul learns
to know the Persons in God, when Christ has revealed Himself to us
as the Way of life. Let not then the life of your soul remain
dependent on the condition of your heart, but let there be a lively
urge to know Christ, the Surety, and through Him, the Father and the
Holy Spirit.
    
    Oh, afflicted souls, keep courage. So many cannot deny that they
have received some hope of salvation, when the all-sufficiency and
fulness in Christ were opened to them, but it seems to them that the
Father as an angry Judge shall condemn them forever. The sweet
communion with the Surety and the strengthening of the Holy Spirit
through the Word give hope, but the Father is their Judge, and they
have never yet heard His acquittal in their soul.
    
    This causes them to fear that all they have will be too short
when death comes, and justice shall condemn their soul. Oh, may the
Lord give you light. There is no revelation of Christ, nor coming to
Christ, except by the love of the Father. He Himself loves you. Only
the light in your soul is lacking; faith has no power to penetrate
into the mystery of the Trinity. You lack the sealing of the Holy
Ghost and therefore faith loses its power in the attacks of Satan,
and doubt retains its power in your heart to hold you captive. The
knowledge of and the comfort from the Trinity is missed by many,
since the grace of God does not work through in the soul. They see
the three Persons more clearly in the manners of their existence,
than in the beauty of their unity. How few of God's children have
received conscious knowledge of their justification in Christ by
faith and through the assurance of the Holy Spirit. And how sad it
is that many rest in their justification, without seeking to attain
the same consciousness of their adoption. They often become great
Christians and they lack the childlike frame. The mystery of the
Trinity of God has not been experimentally explained in their soul.
How our heart should hunger for the divine solution of the mystery
in which so much comfort lies, that our soul which in Adam was drawn
away from the Father now may testify, "Abba, Father," and the great
mystery is embraced, "One God in three Persons, Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost, is the God of our salvation."
    
    But how much continual exercise of faith is necessary in our
soul, so that the work of the Holy Spirit may bear rich fruit for
our sanctification. Christ was referring to this exercise of faith
when He spoke, "Abide in Me, and I in you, and you shall bring forth
much fruit." What a sad sight God's people often are in our days,
because they lack the exercise of sanctification. It should wound
our hearts to see the Father's honour thus violated, the Son's
redemption thus negated and the Spirit's work opposed. The communion
of faith with the Father in Christ through the Holy Spirit, keeps us
far from sin and causes us to grow in Him Who is the Head of His
church. Then even in the darkness, our soul shall have strength in
God, and even in darkness there shall be such a fulfillment of the
Father's love, that we shall sing the praises of the Lord, even in
the night, seeking refuge under the shadow of His wings. For God
loves His people eternally with an unchangeable love, which does not
measure itself after our feelings, but is ever the same in Christ.
God grant us that grace so that we may be encouraged to walk on our
path, even in adversities.
    
    For God the Holy Spirit made His dwelling in you in
regeneration, never to depart from you. The Lord Himself has said,
"The Father shall give you another Comforter that He may abide with
you forever." Christ departed according to the flesh, the church
would know Him no more after the flesh; but the people of God are
given much more. The Holy Spirit came to depart no more, to lead
into the truth, to open the mysteries of the Word for our salvation,
to comfort us in all sorrow, to abide with us forever, even though
we do not feel it, and our soul complains, "The Lord has forsaken
me." How we should walk with uplifted head! The poor worldling has
no ground on which to stand, and slips in adversity; but God's
children have a strong consolation, so that Paul cried out, "We are
always confident", "always" in prosperity and in adversity, in life
and in death. Yea, we have a consolation, even in death, for death
is swallowed up in victory. In this life we know only in part, only
a small part of the Triune God. One day that which is in part shall
be put away, and God shall bring His people into that perfect
knowledge which is in heaven. Then the Father Who sits upon the
throne, and the Son, Who purchased His own with His blood, and the
Holy Spirit, Who prepared them for glory, the Triune God, shall be
glorified forever. Oh, that we might walk here looser from the
earth, more familiar with death, and with a livelier hope of glory!
Amen.
    
         When I in righteousness at last
         Thy glorious face shall see,
         When all the weary night is past
         And I awake with Thee.
         To view the glories that abide,
         Then, then shall I be satisfied.
                                      Ps.17
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
God's Fatherhood

Lord's Day 9


Psalter No. 255 st. 1, 2
Read Psalm 103
Psalter No. 278 st. 1, 2, 4
Psalter No. 201 st. 1, 2
Psalter No. 38 st. 1, 2, 3
    
    
    Is there, my beloved, one Psalm in which David, the royal singer
of Israel, sings the glory of the Lord on a higher note than in
Psalm 103? Full of the blessings God had bestowed on him in the
remission of his sins, in healing his diseases, and in the renewal
of his youth like the eagles, he glories in the grace of God. The
Lord was to him not only a Judge who acquitted him of guilt and
punishment, but also a Father, Who embraced him in love, "Like as a
father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear
Him."
    
    God's people can complain, can cry over their sins, over the
hiding of God's face, over the oppression to which they are
subjected in this life. They can complain as a worldling cannot
complain, but they do not always complain. The service of the Lord
is not a grievous service. To the contrary, God's people testify
that they love God's law. Even in the complaint of God's people,
there is more joy than in all the excessive merriment the world
offers. How inexpressibly great must be the joy in God of those who
fear Him. In the night His song shall be with them.
    
    The love of God tasted by David caused him to praise the Lord to
the highest, and he not only calls upon all God's children to join
him, but also urges the holy angels to bless God with him. The Lord
has been merciful to him, as a father to his children. How clearly
do we see in this Psalm that the believers in the Old Testament were
no strangers to the filial relationship in which they stood to God
in Christ, even though they lived in the dispensation of shadows and
the full unfolding of the adoption of which the Apostle speaks so
beautifully, yet awaited for the day of the new covenant.
    
    Do not think this is a small matter. How few of God's dear
children consciously receive this adoption by faith, so that they
can make Paul's word their own, that God has sent the Spirit of His
Son into their hearts whereby they cry "Abba, Father." In the Psalm,
David is glorying in that grace. The love of the Father has filled
his soul; God has dealt with him not as a judge, but as a father.
God has shown that He knows our frame. Yea, in eternity God has
already known it. God's people are often disappointed in themselves,
because they are so full of expectations of self; but God is never
disappointed in them. And that not alone, He remembers that we are
dust. God knows that His people are dust. Their body is made of
dust, and to dust they shall return. Their soul is very corrupt by
nature, and having received grace they are still unable to conquer
even one sinful thought, how much less can they war against the
triple-headed enemy that attacks them day and night. If the Lord did
not remember that we are dust, no hope would remain for the church
of God. But in this He proves His fatherly love and mercy, that He
considers that those who fear Him can do nothing in their own
strength. Grace, only grace shall save them. By the drawing love of
the Father they are led to Christ, by the preserving faithfulness of
the Father they shall endure to the end.
    
    The fact that God wants to be the Father of His people finds its
source in His sovereign good pleasures. Indeed, God did not newly
become a Father when He accepted His elect in Christ, but He was a
Father from eternity by the generation of His only-begotten Son, and
revealed it already in creation. Thus our Catechism also understands
the confession concerning God the Father and our creation, as we now
shall hear from the Ninth Lord's Day.
    
    Lord's Day 9
    
Q. 26: What believest thou when thou sayest, "I believe in God the
    Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth"?

A. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (who of nothing
    made heaven and earth, with all that is in them; who likewise
    upholds and governs the same by his eternal counsel and
    providence) is for the sake of Christ his Son, my God and my
    Father, on whom I rely so entirely, that I have no doubt, but
    He will provide me with all things necessary for soul and body
    and further, that He will make whatever evils He sends upon me,
    in this valley of tears turn out to my advantage; for he is
    able to do it, being Almighty God, and willing, being a
    faithful Father.
    
    The Fatherhood of God is thus elucidated, that we speak of God
the Father
    
      I by virtue of the eternal generation of the Son;
    
     II by virtue of the glorious creation;
    
    III by virtue of the wonderful regeneration.
    
    I
    
    Lord's Day 8 divided the Twelve Articles of faith in three
parts, according to the number of persons in the divine Trinity,
which the Catechism shall now discuss: Lord's Days 9 and 10 speak of
the Father and our creation; Lord's Days 11-19 speak of God the Son
and our redemption, and finally Lord's Days 20-22 speak of the Holy
Spirit and our sanctification. Thus the Twelve Articles are
explained in Lord's Days 9-22. Let us follow the instructor in his
explanation, first giving our attention to what is written about God
the Father and our creation.
    
    Concerning this, two things are confessed, namely the work of
the Father, both in creation and in providence. The ninth Lord's Day
limits itself to what Scripture has revealed about God the Father
and our creation. It does not speak only of our creation, but of God
the Father and our creation. For in answer to the question, "What
believest thou when thou sayest 'I believe in God the Father,
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth'?" the instructor refers first
of all to the eternal Fatherhood in God, then to the Fatherhood by
virtue of creation, and then to the Fatherhood restored in
regeneration. This is what we read in the answer: "That the eternal
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Who of nothing made heaven and
earth, with all that is in them; Who likewise upholds and governs
the same by His eternal counsel and providence) is for the sake of
Christ His Son, my God and my Father."
    
    God the Father hence is Father by virtue of eternal generation.
    
    Of this Fatherhood of God we must speak, as, indeed, it is shown
in creation, but is not founded therein, nor did it begin then. The
Fatherhood of God is from eternity. God the Father is the eternal
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from eternity to eternity the
Father, the first person of the adorable Trinity, Who begot the Son.
How condescending is the revelation of God to sinful children of
men; He gives us an insight in the deep mystery of His Being, that
everyone who by faith may know something of it, shall worship and
honour Him. He, the Father, begot the Son with a never ending,
everlasting generation, which causes the one brought forth to remain
in the Being of God. For these are the two characteristics of the
generation of the Son: that generation has neither beginning nor
ending, and it brings forth no separately existing Being. God the
Son is of one essence with the Father and with the Holy Spirit.
    
    Hence that divine generation is not a work of the Father which
happened and was finished in eternity, but is an everlasting act of
the Father, consisting in this, that He imparts the same divine
Essence to the Son eternally. This is not contradictory to what we
read in Psalm 2: "Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee",
for in God there is but one eternal, unchanging day, having neither
beginning nor ending. Because of this generation the Son is the
image of the invisible God. He is the brightness of His glory, and
the express image of His person. That generation is the personal
attribute of the Son. "When there were no depths, I was brought
forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water." (Prov.
8:24) All fatherhood among men is a faint reflection of this eternal
Fatherhood of God. The Fatherhood, also carried by God into
creation, is the work of the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus; to
turn these matters about is incorrect. But in what an awfully
majestic manner we then see that in the Essence of God there is a
perfect glory and exaltation and pouring out of Divine attributes;
that God did not need creation for the effluence of His perfections,
since even before creation He was not without some vital work. The
Son was rejoicing before Him; in Him the Father poured out His love
from eternity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the three Persons in the
one eternal Essence of God, tell us that this perfect Being had in
Himself all the glorification of His attributes. Oh, who would not
fear Him? For His own sake He is worthy to be glorified forever.
    
    To the Son therefore belongs the same honour as to the Father.
As the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to
have life in Himself. (John 5:26) How terrible then the denial of
the Godhead of the Son by Arius and his followers. The story told by
Brahe in his comments on the Five Walcheren Articles might be
instructive. After many fruitless attempts to have the Emperor
forbid the meetings of Arians, the bishop met the Emperor and his
son who had been elevated to the imperial dignity. The bishop did
not pay any respect to the son, which, greatly angered the Emperor,
but the bishop said, "You see, Emperor, how it angers you when your
son is not honored, but consider then that the God of all the earth
detests those who blaspheme His only begotten Son, and hates them as
ingrates to their Savior and Advocate." These words made such an
impression upon the Emperor, that the meetings of the Arians were
curtailed. The Son is worthy to be honored as we honour the Father.
He is not the first creature, but the first born of all creatures,
very God, by the eternal generation of the Father, by which He
remains in the Essence of God.
    
    However, it has pleased the Lord to reveal His glory in His
works, and that in such a way especially in man, the crown of God's
creation, God's fatherly love would shine forth. We will now
consider God's Fatherhood by virtue of the glorious creation.
    
    II
    
    The Catechism speaks of this with these words: "That the eternal
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (who of nothing made heaven and
earth, with all that is in them; who likewise upholds and governs
the same by His eternal counsel and providence)."
    
    The Father created. That work of the Father was not done without
the Son, nor without the Holy Spirit. Creation is the work of the
Triune God. Scripture does not only say that the Spirit moved upon
the face of the waters; "The Spirit of God has made me, and the
breath of the Almighty has given me life", says Elihu (Job 33:4)
John ascribes the work of creation to the Word, that is the Son,
saying that all things were made by Him and without Him was not
anything made that was made. But creation is the personal work of
the Father, as we have noticed in Lord's Day 8. The Father created
through the Son and the Holy Spirit.
    
    He has created heaven and earth of nothing. Before He began to
create there was nothing besides Him. Creating is bringing forth
something out of nothing by an almighty act of the will. We can make
things, reshape a basic material, saw planks from a tree, and by
further dividing and joining make beautiful and pleasing things, but
man's work always remains making. God only can create, bring forth
something out of nothing. It is God's work and honour to have
brought forth the universe of nothing. "Through faith we understand
that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which
are made were not made of things which do appear." God calls those
things which be not as though they were.
    
    It is creation not evolution. The evolutionary theory came up
out of sheer enmity against God and His Word and with the purpose of
degrading man, as though he were an animal, having no soul to lose.
Still believing in a creation is foolishness in the eyes of those
who cling to the evolution theory. They believe there was eternal
matter which developed into the many heavenly bodies that move about
in the sky, out of which, again without God, plants, especially on
our earth develop, and from plants came animals, from which animals
man then descended. Faith is not wanted, that is faith in God's
Word. But they do believe this foolish fanciful tale of one child of
man whose mind was darkened. Thus they honour the creature above the
Creator, and reject the living and everlasting Word of God, which
testifies so simply and understandably: "In the beginning God
created heaven and earth." He brought forth all things by the word
of His power. "He spake and it was done; He commanded, and it stood
fast." How creation attests to His admirable wisdom! Here, too, we
might cry out, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God!" For He has made them all with wisdom, according
to His sovereign pleasure. "Our God is in the heavens, He has done
whatsoever He has pleased." However man in his seeming boldness may
try to minimize it, the entire creation speaks of the greatness of
the Creator, "for of Him, and through Him and to Him are all things,
to Whom be glory for ever, Amen."
    
    Heaven and earth God the Father created of nothing, with all
that is in them.
    
             "The spacious heavens declare
             The glory of our God"
    
    The entire universe is the work of the living God, brought forth
by Him in time. At the creation God also gave time. In the beginning
God created, then it was the first day. Before creation there was no
time; all was eternity; a thousand years were as one day. Then God
placed the universe in time. In the division of time lies such a
blessing for all that live on earth. It is a spur for God's people
to yearn for eternity that lies before them; it is an encouragement
in their suffering and affliction, and a serious warning for us,
since the fall, of our declension. God did not give that beginning
in which He established heaven and earth for naught. One day that
time shall end and at that time heaven and earth shall also pass
away, so that a new heaven and a new earth shall come, upon which
righteousness shall dwell. Then "there shall be time no more." Then
heaven and earth shall return to that sweet agreement that there was
in creation. One day sin shall be swept away from both heaven and
earth and the creation shall fulfill the purposes of God.
    
    God created in the beginning, but that primary creation had to
be completed in a secondary creation. That is the name given to the
creation in the six days, which were ordinary days, not periods of
time, although creation is one work, and cannot be divided. "The
earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of
the deep." God completed the creation in six days. First He gave
light which on the fourth day was collected in the sun, which as the
light-bearer spread light upon the earth, moon and stars. And God
said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the
day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and
for days, and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of
the heaven to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God then
made the two great lights, that great light to rule the day and the
lesser light to rule the night, and the stars also. God placed them
all in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth and to
rule in the day and in the night, and to make a separation between
the light and the darkness." First He prepared the earth by
separating the waters above in the air, where those immeasurable
amounts of water float in clouds from the waters below, that
gathered in seas and rivers. Then God made animals and man, after
the earth had already brought forth plants and trees. Moreover, God
created all the plants from grass to fruit-bearing trees, all the
animals, from the great whales to all winged birds, rational and
irrational creatures, after his kind, and that word is true, even
today. Go away, then, with your evolutionary theory; that plants
develop from dust, and animals from plants, and man from animals.
God created all things after their kind; a fruit tree reproduces
itself by means of seed, and the egg of any living creature develops
into that same creature. Have you ever gathered figs from thorns or
grapes from brambles? Foolish man who wants to be wiser than God;
blind son of Adam that does not see the greatness of your Creator,
even in His mightiest work. O, hear, "The eternal Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, Who of nothing made heaven and earth, still upholds
them by His eternal counsel and providence."
    
    This can silence the Deist who says that God does not concern
Himself with the creature, but that the universe is as a clock which
having been wound up, runs without further help or guidance. How
much wisdom God gave the composers of the Catechism, so that with
but few words they could express their standpoint in opposition to
errors. God the Lord created the universe, but He also upholds it;
by His omnipotence He preserves its existence. To that work of
preservation Christ referred when He said, "My Father worketh
hitherto."
    
    That work is the executing of God's eternal counsel of which He
spoke through Isaiah, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My
pleasure." How often Scripture speaks of that counsel to which even
the most wicked deeds of men are subject. Thus both Herod and Pilate
are gathered together against the holy Child Jesus, with the
Gentiles and the people of Israel to do (however terrible their
deeds were), all that God's "hand and counsel determined before to
be done." Ought not Christ to have suffered these things? Without
that suffering and that death no deliverance of the elect was
possible. And now the inimical Jews and the Gentiles together
execute God's eternal counsel. They are not forced to do it; they do
it willingly, in the great enmity of their heart. But also by those
free acts of men, God executes His will and decree and counsel. By
that counsel He sustains all things and guides them to a certain end
determined by Him. In the next Lord's Day we shall see what a
comfort lies herein for God's people, but here already we must cry
out, "O Lord, how great are Thy works! and Thy thoughts are very
deep." In creation God has revealed His Fatherhood in creatures
outside of Him, but we have torn ourselves away from His Fatherly
hands. Because of our fall, God has become our Judge. Now we see the
unutterable wonder of His good pleasure, which we are shown in the
third place,
    
    III
    
that God will restore His Fatherhood by a wonderful regeneration.
    
    How precious the practical, essential life of faith is evident
in this Lord's Day. With the confession of God the Father Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth, the instructor not only gives us a
consideration of the work of creation, but he carries on to God's
Fatherhood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to what it means to be a
spiritual child, for we read, "that the eternal Father is my God and
my Father."
    
    The Creator of heaven and earth my God and my Father! Oh the
unspeakable blessedness God gives His people! Even the creation of
the universe was planned for the salvation of the church of God. God
created one man to bring forth all out of that one, so that in that
one person all are included in the covenant. When that one man fell
willfully, all fell in him; but then God's plan was revealed, in
imputing the sin and guilt of Adam upon his posterity, the
imputation of the guilt of the elect should fall upon the seed of
the woman. Creation was prepared for the salvation of God's people.
The Catechism lays hold upon that mystery by faith, acknowledging
God the Father as Creator, but also embracing the Father by
restoration. This flows forth from God's counsel and His eternal
good pleasure.
    
    Adorned with God's image, Adam was called the Son of God. God
was his Father, since He had brought him forth.
    
    The Most High God condescends so low to call him His son. What
an inexpressible glory for man to be a son of God. Truly man is the
crown of God's creation. Just keep your theories, unbelieving
scientists, who want to imagine that there are living creatures on
the moon, just to prove that the earth was not the center of God's
creation; just keep your theories. Man created in God's image, and
therefore even superior to the angels, is the most important of
God's creatures, and as a child of God, he shares in God's
immeasurable love, finding Paradise prepared for his habitation. Oh,
what a glorious state, that state of rectitude.
    
    In the fall, as we have already noticed, he withdrew himself
from that fatherly love. Let those modern rejecters of God's free
grace say, "We are all brothers and sisters, children of one God and
Father", they are misleading themselves and others. In the fall we
destroyed our childhood, we ran away from God, and we run on and on
in our chosen way. The prodigal son could not stay with his father,
he journeyed to a far country, and wasted all his goods. That
prodigal son is our image. We, sons and daughters of Adam, bearing
the likeness of fallen man, cannot stay with God. His glory is a
consuming fire to us. In breaking the covenant we have gone far from
God, although He is omnipresent, but we withdrew our heart from Him,
our Creator. The natural relationship of Adam is none other than of
death and condemnation, and it is fitting that each one of us should
confess, "I am not worthy to be called Thy son."
    
    The instructor bases the testimony "That the eternal Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ is my God and my Father" not upon creation,
but upon recreation. It is "for the sake of His Son Jesus Christ."
    
    The Son was anointed by the Father before the foundation of the
world to be the Head of the Covenant of Grace, as Adam was the head
of the covenant of works. In Christ, the church of God was chosen to
be saved from the curse and from perdition and to receive the
adoption by regenerating grace.
    
    In Adam we are by nature children of wrath, children of Satan,
to whom it is said, "The lusts of your father ye will do. He was a
murderer from the beginning." For such, and that is the
incomprehensible wonder of God's sovereign grace, the adoption is
prepared. "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His
will."
    
    Therefore the ministry of the Gospel is so broad, that Adam's
sons and daughters are adopted as children of God, that no sinner is
too wicked, and no one is too depraved to obtain this eternal
blessing in this life.
    
    Yet none come there in their own power, or by their own will.
No, of ourselves we have no such desire, we always go farther and
farther away from God and never turn to Him in truth. The adoption
is a work of God, glorified in the hearts of His own by
regeneration. Only by regeneration do we become children of God;
everyone that is born again is born of God and is made to be His
possession, His child, and can never be lost; God's work is and
abides in Him. Does not the newborn babe, lying there unconscious of
everything, belong to the family? Does it not share in all the
rights of the other children, as old as they may be? Is it not
counted as a citizen of the country and an inhabitant of the city?
    
    Just so everyone who is born of God, is a child of God, a
citizen of the heavenly Zion, and when he dies, however small
spiritually, and timid, and doubting he is for himself, he shall
enter eternal glory, for he is an heir of God, and joint-heir with
Christ. Do you think Ruth, the Moabitess, would have been lost if
she had died on Canaan's border with her sincere choice being, "Thy
people shall be my people and thy God my God?" Would you think that
a people who, although being no stronger in faith than Ester was
when she said, "If I perish, I perish", yet could rest on grace,
would perish? Impossible! Then it would not be true that He who had
begun the good work will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Here the beginning determines the end. If the beginning is of God
(and it is in all those that are reborn), the end shall be eternal
peace. They who strike such hard blows on the concerned souls,
grieve them and limit the Holy Spirit in His work of grace by
calling, "This is nothing and that is nothing; it must come to this
point and that point; you must learn this thus and so, and if you
are not justified in the court of your conscience you are lost."
They should be ashamed of their spiritual pride and ignorance. Does
the foundation of our salvation lie in those high steps of spiritual
life? Or does the foundation lie in Christ? Does He not seek the
sinner in his state of death? Is it not He Who makes alive, Who
guides him with His counsel and afterwards receives him in His
glory?
    
    So it is: we are adopted as children of God in regeneration,
when we are transferred from death to life.
    
    That adoption as children does not take place without faith and
is rooted in the union with Christ. "As many as received Him, to
them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on His name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
    
    That faith planted in the soul longs for growth in Christ. It is
the experience of the reborn souls that they cannot rest in the
blessing once given. They need light to see the blessing received.
Sometimes they ask themselves, "Why am I thus?" Is it a work of God
within? They complain bitterly about their sins; they are sorry for
the life they have led. Often they bend their knees with fear, with
fear because they cannot live without prayer, their heart cries out
to God, to the living God; but to them He is more a judge than a
Father. Their guilt, O their terrible guilt, calls for eternal
perdition and how shall they meet God?
    
    Yes, they believe that God is reconciled in Christ for all God's
children, and that fills them with holy jealousy toward that people,
but, usually they cannot believe that they belong to that people.
They feel so wicked. It does not lie in external things since their
eyes were opened, they cannot live in the world, they have left the
service of sin, and they will not, they cannot go back, even if they
must eat dry bread and finally perish. God knows their soul wishes
to cleave to the Lord all their days.
    
    The evil is within; their heart is so wicked, so hard. Then they
lose hope again and are very far from accepting the statement that
they are a child of God. They lack the consciousness of faith of the
work of God glorified in them. Although they are eternally blessed,
they complain much about their wretched state, and although they
would not want to miss what they experience for all the world, they
cannot count themselves among the children of God. They have no life
in the world, and have no place among God's people; they are without
a name. That is not because they lack faith, as that was given them
in regeneration, but they lack the conscious embracing of God in
Christ, by faith.
    
    Faith then breaks through and Christ reveals Himself. Oh, in
Him, yea in Him is everything that can reconcile a lost sinner with
God. He is the way to the Father. "No man comets unto the Father but
by Me." A lively desire now comes into the soul for this Mediator,
to be freed from sin and guilt forever. What a restless seeking,
what hungering and thirsting! "Oh, that Christ were my portion",
says such a one. Unbelief, however, does not cease to oppose the
appropriation of faith, and as long as the soul doubts its being a
partaker of Christ, Satan knows very well the soul also lacks
freedom, internal liberty of heart to cry out "Abba, Father." That
liberty does not even lie in our justification; that liberty lies in
the witness of the Spirit of God with our spirit, that we are
children of God. It is this: "And I will be a Father unto you, and
ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." "I
ascend," said the risen Savior, "unto My Father, and your Father;
and to my God and your God." Then faith responds, "Amen, and Amen."
"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but
ye have received the spirit of adoption," whereby we cry, "Abba,
Father." Adopted as children for Christ's sake. Never shall the Lord
forsake His people, not even in the greatest adversities. Of that we
shall sing with
    
            Psalter No. 201; st. 1, 2
    
    Application
    
    But now the Catechism also shows the fruit of this spiritual
sonship. This fruit is a sincere confidence: "On whom I rely so
entirely, that I have no doubt but He will provide me with all
things necessary for soul and body; and further, that He will make
whatever evils He sends upon me, in this valley of tears, turn out
to my advantage; for He is able to do it, being Almighty God, and
willing, being a faithful Father."
    
    What language of faith the child of God speaks here! Oh, no,
that is not always the exercise of faith. Jacob did not speak thus
when he complained, "All these things are against me." Elijah did
not glory thus under the juniper tree. David was not so confident
when he uttered his sad complaints, "I shall now perish one day by
the hand of Saul." In the exercise of faith, God's people are
dependent upon the ministration of the Holy Spirit and if that
Spirit withholds his influence, they halt again and again, if not
about their state, then because of the oppression in this life, and
they see not God's fatherly love. Sin darkens the eye of faith, and
prevents coming boldly to the throne of grace. Yet in the depth of
their heart lies the sincere, humble, childlike trust in the Lord.
In the surrender of their soul, God's people sank into the loving
heart of God and became His for time and eternity. He shall provide
them with all things necessary for body and soul, whatever may
happen, although the rivers dry out, and there was no more grass for
the king's horses. For the God of Elijah still lives. "Trust in Him
at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him; God is a
refuge for us. Selah." Not only in prosperity, but also in adversity
God is a helper, "a very present help in trouble."
    
    "And that He will make whatever evils He sends upon me, in this
valley of tears turn out to my advantage." There is no want neither
of power nor of love. He can do it, being almighty God, and is
willing to do it, being a faithful Father. All things work together
for good to them that are called according to His purpose.
    Trusting in this we may sing with the Psalmist:
    
        "Though troubles surge, yet through the day
        The Lord His gracious help will give.
        And in the night my heart shall pray
        And sing to Him in Whom I live."
    
    Poor child of Adam, who has no Redeemer to lean upon; poor
worldling, whose delight is in the service of sin. Shall Satan pay
you as the Lord in grace pays His people? Shall the world help you
as God helps His people? Can your happiness here be compared to the
happiness that the poorest child of God enjoys? At death shall
anything but eternal grief, remorse and hellish pain be your
portion? Oh, that God might uncover your true misery to you and that
Israel's God may be your aid in this life.
    
    Lock with holy jealousy upon the people that you now so often
despise, reprove and mock. You are still living in the acceptable
day of grace. May it be for your eternal profit.
    
    May it be given to you, people of the Lord, to grow in the
courts of the Lord and to walk far from sin in a humble, quiet walk
as children of God before the Lord. May your soul experience
continually, that the Lord shows mercy to them that fear Him, as a
father pities his children. May the Lord be your refuge in all
afflictions and sorrows, and in all your cares and troubles may you
trust in Him, Who provides for your body and soul. Oh, that your
heart was more full of that spiritual and eternal good that has
become your portion in regeneration. In the world you shall have
tribulation. Reproach and derision is often your portion. "If God be
for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely
give us all things." Your Father, Who is in heaven, knows what you
need, and He shall soon cause you to enter the Father's house which
has many mansions, and into which Christ has gone to prepare a place
for you. Amen.
    
    
    
    

The Providence of God

Lord's Day 10


Psalter No. 16 st. 4 and 8
Read Isaiah 40:1-17
Psalter No. 86 st. 1, 2, 3
Psalter No. 175 st. 1 and 3
Psalter No. 400 st. 3 and 4


Beloved!
    
    God fulfills in time what He has determined in His council in
eternity; as we have just sung, "The counsel of the Lord standeth
forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations." Before the
foundation of the world He has determined what shall happen and what
shall not happen. Nothing comes to pass except what God in His
sovereign will has determined shall come to pass. Neither does a
hair fall from our head without His will; that will of God is one
and unchangeable. We may speak of a will of His decree, and a will
of God's command, but there are no two wills in God. It is not true
that the will of His command differs from that which is determined
by His decree. Specifically it is contrary to the simplicity of
God's will to say, that in the will of His decree He has determined
that not all people shall be saved, but it definitely is the will of
His command that all people shall be saved. Who ever heard such
language among those who confess the Reformed religion? Are there
then two wills in God? Two opposite wills? Is the will of God's
command not one with His decree, specifically with that part which
He has revealed to us? Or was it, to give one example, contrary to
God's decree that the Lord commanded Abraham to offer his son Isaac,
who according to the unchangeable will of God, could not die? No,
this is not contradictory. However, God not only decreed that Isaac
live so that all nations should be blessed in him, but that decree
was of much wider scope, namely to try Abraham's faith by commanding
him to offer Isaac. When Abraham, strengthened by faith, did not
withhold his only son from the Lord, then he, as it were, received
him again from the dead. Thus God's decree is executed by His
command. In that decree the salvation of the elect is immovably
firm, yea all things are determined which shall certainly come to
pass, evil as well as good; the judgment and destruction of the
wicked, as well as the salvation and protection of the righteous.
The Lord shall make all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. Therefore
God's people can rejoice in the stability of God's counsel. Not only
the end, that is, their salvation is firmly decreed, but all things
that happen to them in their life are decreed and directed by Him.
Therefore He upholds all creation and governs all things in His
providence. I now wish to speak of God's providence, asking your
attention for the tenth Lord's Day of the Heidelberg Catechism.
    
    Lord's Day 10
    
Q. 27: What dost thou mean by the providence of God?
A. The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it
    were by His hand, He upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all
    creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful
    and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches
    and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by
    His fatherly hand.

Q. 28: What advantage is it to us to know that God has created, and
    by His providence does still uphold all things?
A. That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and
    that in all things, which may hereafter befall us, we place our
    firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall
    separate us from His love; since all creatures are so in His
    hand, that without His will cannot so much as move.
    
    This Lord's Day deals with the providence of God, and teaches us
    
      I what it is;
    
     II how it works;
    
    III what the profit is of faith in providence.
    
    I
    
    In the previous Lord's Day, the foundation was laid for what is
treated in Lord's Day 10. Creation and providence belong together.
According to His eternal counsel, the Father upholds and governs His
creatures in His work of providence of which Christ spoke: "My
Father worketh hitherto."
    
    God's providence is not mentioned by that name in the Bible. It
is referred to by other names, such as, His reign, His ordinances,
His hand and His deeds. However, the word providence is Biblical.
When Isaac asked his father, "Where is the lamb for the burnt
offering?" Abraham answered, "My son, God will provide Himself a
lamb for a burnt offering." Abraham called the name of this place,
as we read in Gen. 22:14: "Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day,
In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen." Thus Abraham not only
believed that God knew and saw everything beforehand from eternity,
but also, that the Lord would provide a lamb in his need and would
give it when necessary. Hence the providence of God refers not only
to God's foreknowledge, but includes also providing what is
necessary. Also in Heb. 11:40 "provide" is used in that same sense:
"God having provided some better thing for us, that they (that is,
the Old Testament believers) without us should not be made perfect."
Therefore God's providence is the almighty and everywhere present
power of God; whereby, as it were by His hand, He upholds and
governs heaven, earth, and all creatures.
    
    Psalm 115:3 speaks of the almighty power: "Our God is in the
heavens; He has done whatsoever He has pleased." "I know", says Job,
"that Thou can't do everything, and that no thought can be
withholden from Thee." Nothing is withheld from this almighty power
of God. That this power is everywhere present is evident from Jer.
23:23, 24, "Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar
off?" Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see
him? saith the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? saith the
Lord." No creature in heaven or on earth can move without that power
of God. The Lord makes the bright clouds, of Him is the noise of
thunder. God thundereth marvelously with His voice, great things
teeth He which we cannot comprehend. He gives us our being, and
takes away our breath and we die." "He is not far from every one of
us, for in Him we live and move, and have our being." (Acts 17:27,
28) How many do not acknowledge this work of the Father. The one
ascribes to fate and chance, and another to nature and its laws,
those things which the providence of God works out most accurately.
The Heist denies that God cares for His creation. "The Lord shall
not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it", said Israel of
old, and many today say likewise. Yea, the proud nature of each one
of us rebels against submitting to that almighty and omnipresent
power of God. How precious then, in the face of all this denial, is
the clear, scriptural confession of our Catechism about the doctrine
of the providence of God. It is the omnipotent and omnipresent power
of God outside of which nothing can exist, not even a moment. "Thou
takest their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou
sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created, and Thou renewest the
face of the earth." All things come to us from the hand of the Lord
and calls our attention to notice the work of His hands and to live
dependently upon Him. We may see this more clearly in this Lord's
Day as we hear in the second place
    
    II
    
how this providence of God works.
    
    In God's providence we distinguish three acts, namely
preservation, cooperation, and government. The preservation is that
almighty power of God by which He continues all things in their
being. If the shingles blow from your roof during a storm, you
repair the damage, for if it is not repaired soon, the entire house
will suffer. Your house needs upkeep in order to remain as it is.
How much more then does all creation need preservation by its
Creator, since nothing exists of itself, nor through itself. "He
upholds all things by the word of His power." All things exist
through Him. "That they may know from the rising of the sun, and
from the West, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and
there is none else. I form the light and create darkness; I make
peace, and create evil; I the Lord do all these things." Thus God
cares for all His creatures, so that "not one sparrow falls on the
ground without your Father, and the very hairs on your head are all
numbered."
    
    That preservation is mediate. God bound us to the means, but He
Himself stands above the means. Moses abode on the mountain forty
days, immediately sustained by God; but Israel received bread out of
heaven, although God could just as well have preserved them for
forty years by the word of His power without bread; but that was not
His pleasure. He bound us to the means, and said, "In the sweat of
thy face shalt thou eat bread." For the sick He gave physicians, and
in times of sickness we must call the physician, looking to God in
prayer. Even His mediate preservation is sometimes so wonderful.
Joseph, instructed by God, built large storehouses in the years of
plenty, so that in the coming years of famine the people would be
saved. God's tender loving care is also seen in the mediate, but
also very wonderful preservation of Elijah by Cherith and the widow
at Zarephath. All brooks in Israel were dried up, and now the brook
which otherwise was dry before the others, and therefore was named
Cherith (dried up), still had water; for Elijah must drink from it,
while thieving crows bring him meat. It all seems contradictory, but
shows a glorious harmony and divine preservation. Making one more
cake for herself and for her son would use up the meal and the oil
of the widow, but lo, she and her son and the man of God sent to
her, eat of it many days and the supply does not diminish. Let God's
people speak of the ways in which the Lord showed them ten, twenty
and a hundred times, how He provided for them as He did for Elijah,
His servant. Elijah's ravens are still living; the God of Elijah is
still the same. Have no fear; they that fear the Lord shall not want
any good thing. The Lord feeds them with food convenient for them.
Although that portion is not abundant according to the world, and
often such that their flesh murmurs, their bread shall be given
them; their waters shall be sure. The ears of grain shall grow as
long as the righteous need food. There is a very special providence
of God for His church, but His providence is not limited to the
church, it extends over all things; also over the wicked, according
to Rom. 9:22: "God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power
known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted
to destruction." However rich the blessings are which the reprobates
receive out of the providence of God, they are fitted to
destruction. Never do they receive a blessing in God's favour. That
is for the Lord's people alone. "That He might make known the riches
of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had store prepared
unto glory." From this distinguishing dispensation, we may conclude
that the little of the righteous is better than the riches of many
wicked. The latter are borne in God's long suffering, but those that
fear the Lord are to make known the riches of His glory.
    
    We could include cooperation with preservation; the Catechism
does not mention it separately. Cooperation is that preservation of
God by which He influences all the motions and operations of His
creatures. God does not at birth give the creature all the power it
needs throughout its life, but gives strength for every act at every
moment. The strength we need to move our lips, to get in or out of
our beds, to do our work day after day, comes moment by moment from
Him Who not only created us, but also preserves us, and without Whom
we can not move an arm or a foot, dependent as we are upon Him for
every heart-beat.
    
    What a great responsibility does that constant flow of strength
lay upon man! He must take heed how he uses that strength. The
strength is of God, the use of that strength, although guided by
God, serves to fulfill God's counsel but is our responsibility. If
God had not given him the strength to do it, Joab could not have
smitten Abner under the fifth rib in Hebron's gate, but Joab misused
that strength given by God, and that misuse rested upon the head of
Joab and all his house.
    
    Although the misuse of the given strength makes us guilty before
God, still nothing happens without God's government. Everything is
subject to that government. "The Lord is clothed with strength."
"Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." "The
Lord shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all
generations. Praise ye the Lord." His government is not only over
the good, but also over the evil. Do not misunderstand: God never
does what is evil, neither directly nor indirectly. He Who is
spotlessly holy can never be the cause of anything sinful. But the
evil which the creature does is subject to the government of God,
and is guided to a certain end, determined by Him. Take for example,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave to Egypt. His brothers shamefully
abused their father's darling, but Joseph saw God's government even
in the evil deeds of his brothers and testified, "As for you, ye
thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to
pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." How wonderful
was the government of God in the wrong way that Naomi went. Naomi
was going her own way when she left the land of promise and went to
Moab. She confessed that uprightly. Yet Naomi's going to Moab was
the means of bringing Ruth to Israel. In this connection we see also
Pilate, the man who violates justice to obtain the favour of the
Jews, but through his deed, God's justice punished the sins of the
elect in the condemned Surety, so that Zion shall be redeemed with
judgment. Neither the message of Pilate's wife, which gave the chief
priests the opportunity to stir up the people, nor the people's
demand that Barabbas should be released, nor ... but follow Christ's
suffering and death from step to step, and everything, even the
smallest incidents shall show you God's government, also of sin.
    
    Even Satan is the object of God's government. He is summoned to
give account of his doings, to that end he is standing before God on
the day on which the sons of God (those are the angels) present
themselves before the Lord; he may not go farther in distressing Job
than God permits, and he is limited, first to what Job has, and then
he is told to save his life.
    
    Nothing, not even the freest acts of the creature are excluded
from the government of God. "The lot is cast into the lap; but the
whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." Nothing happens by chance.
We say things happen by chance when events occur entirely without
human guidance. Ruth did not go consciously, according to a prepared
plan, to the field of Boaz, but without any such intention. "Her hap
was to light on a part of the field of Boaz." Thus we would say it
was by chance that first the priest, then the Levite, and at last
the Samaritan passed the man who had fallen among thieves between
Jerusalem and Jericho. However, by the order in which they passed,
we can clearly see which was the neighbor to the victim. Many things
happen by chance, without human guidance, but nothing ever happens
without God's government. In God's government there is no chance:
herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat
and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all
things come not by chance, but by His fatherly hand.
    
    "Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it; Thou greatly
enrichest it with the river of God which is full of water; Thou
prepares them corn, when Thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest
the ridges thereof abundantly; Thou settles the furrows thereof;
Thou makes it soft with showers; Thou blessest the springing
thereof. Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness; and Thy paths
drop fatness." Thus the psalmist sings of rain and fruitfulness. On
the other hand, Judah in the days of Jeremiah mourned about the
dearth: "Her gates languish; they are black unto the ground; and the
cry of Jerusalem is gone up." The great drought and barrenness in
the time of Elijah was the rod of God over Ahab and Israel. Oh, how
terrible was the reproach of God by Amos. "I have smitten you with
blasting and mildew; when your gardens and your vineyards and your
fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmer worm devoured
them; yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord." Also food
and drink are a gift of God. "Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfies
the desire of every living thing." "He also woundeth, and His hands
make whole." He gives health and sickness. However hard it may be to
accept it, our frail bodies and our many sicknesses are sent to us
by God as well as good health. He also made both poor and rich. God
made Abraham rich; Solomon desired wisdom, but received also
abundant riches. How great was the grace and the power of faith in
the impoverished Job when he cried out, "The Lord gave, and the Lord
has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Besides that which
has been mentioned, you may name anything you please; it is all
under the government of God. There is no good thing on earth that
does not come from Him, and there is no evil in the city that the
Lord has not done. The Assyrian was the rod of His anger, and the
staff in their hand was His indignation. Shall the ax boast itself
against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself
against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself
against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up
itself, as if it were no wood." War and peace come from Him Who
said, "I make peace and create evil; I the Lord do all these
things."
    
    God hardens Pharaoh's heart, although He does not cause the
hardening, but He withholds the common grace which would have let
him allow Israel to go as God had demanded through Moses. Not only
the devil, but the Lord provoked David to number Israel by giving
David, His servant, over to the pride of his heart, so that he
persisted in spite of the admonition of wicked Joab, for God sought
occasion to punish Israel. The Lord caused the walking of David on
the roof to take place at the same time as Bath-sheba's washing
herself, so that his eye fell upon her and his carnal lusts were
stirred. God never works sin but the committing of sin is never
outside of God's decree and knowledge and cooperation, so that He
shall also glorify Himself through the abomination of iniquity. By
all this we can see how much we must shun what is evil, so the Lord
will not righteously give us over to sin, and also how God's people
need His watchful care from moment to moment. Faith in God's
providence is therefore very profitable for God's children, to which
we now give our attention, hearing about
    
    III
    
the profit of faith in providence.
    
    The Catechism sets this forth very clearly in the last question
of the 10th Lord's Day, asking, "What advantage is it to us to know
that God has created and by His providence does still uphold all
things?" "That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in
prosperity; and that in all things, which may hereafter befall us,
we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing
shall separate us from His love; since all creatures are so in His
hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move."
    
    "There is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked." Yea,
it is written that many are the afflictions of the righteous. God's
children also are subject to all kinds of miseries, it is all a part
of their school of life. The hard lesson they must learn is to
follow the Lord through fields sown and not sown. Our nature cannot
do so, not for a moment, never, not under any circumstances. Grace
is needed to be able to do so. That is especially evident in
adversities, although we are no better in prosperity, not nearer to
loving and following God; but in adversity we show more of our
enmity against God's providence, and we become more aware of the
fact that patience in adversity does not grow upon our field.
    
    Do not misunderstand. Being patient in adversity is not the same
as the stoical indifference of many even under the severest strokes,
of those who "take it as it comes" because they "can't do anything
about it." Such people know nothing of an upright submission to
God's will. Yea, they do not bow under their sin, for they do not
know the cause of their misery and therefore are strangers to the
prophet's testimony, "I will bear the indignation of the Lord,
because I have sinned against Him." For them is the awful reproach
of the Lord, "Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt
more and more." With a laugh upon his lips the worldling goes his
way in cold indifference, even in adversities, as long as his
wickedness can still refrain from cursing the Almighty. But that
coolness in regard to God's dealings, is not the patience which the
Catechism describes as the fruit of the knowledge of faith, that God
created all things and still upholds them in His providence. He who
is made patient in adversities, has in his soul an intimate union
with the dealings of God. He does not bow because he can not change
it, but because he does not want to change it. Whatever God does,
also in adversity, is good, and that because in the evil, whether
sickness or poverty or death of loved ones, or whatever it was, he
felt the bitterness of the fruit of his sin. That makes him lay his
hand on his mouth and hold his peace. No, the one who is patient in
adversity is not cold and indifferent, but his soul is humbled
before God; he was guilty, and God did him no injustice. However
much his flesh weeps against the hard ways God leads him, he desires
to be quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord; for with the
Lord there is forgiveness that He might be feared. True patience in
adversity flows forth from learning that we are clay in the hand of
the Potter. Is God not free in His doings? "Shall we receive good at
the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" Notice also that
the Lord sends adversities to His people for their good. "All things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose." Often the paths of affliction are
blessed paths for the soul. When the Lord's gold goes into the
crucible, He is not far from the tried gold with His Fatherly love.
"And all that call on Him in truth, in Him a present Helper find."
    
    Do not believe that flesh and blood can make us patient. The
language of Asaph is not strange to God's children: "Verily I have
cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. For all
the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning." No,
then all is not well; then all that is in us murmurs against God's
doings; then we call God to account and say, "Why! why do all these
adversities come upon me, all those continuous misfortunes?
    
    Why do the wicked go free, having no bands in their death? It
should be the other way. We know it, and do not wait for answers
upon our why's; God's way is not good! Only the Spirit of God can
bring us to the right place, to make us ashamed and humble. Oh, then
God's ways become good and holy; then we become as a beast before
Him. By the winning grace of the Lord, by becoming at one with His
doings, our soul learns to follow patiently, and our ways of
affliction become sweet to us, so that we would not want less, and
the hope is stirred up that one day all our afflictions shall end
and shall be changed into eternal glory. How good it was for that
woman who lost her cattle and both her children, when asked how she
fared in that deep way, was enabled by the grace of God to answer,
"In heaven I shall sing eternally of the ways of God and shall I
complain about them now? In the night His song shall be with me."
Then Paul's lesson is practiced, "Be patient in tribulation "
    
    That same grace is necessary to be thankful in prosperity. Or do
we think it would be easier to exercise true thankfulness in
prosperity than to exercise patience? Do we not confuse thankfulness
with natural gladness in prosperity? Or is it thankfulness when our
lips say that God is good because we get what we want? Would not God
loathe all that praising and rejoicing? True thankfulness is
exercised in the depth of unworthiness and guiltiness, "I am not
worthy," said Jacob, "of the least of all the mercies, and of all
the truth which Thou hast showed unto Thy servant." Then we cry out
with the Psalmist, "What shall I render unto the Lord for all His
benefits to me? I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon
the name of the Lord." It is our nature to do as Jeshurun, who
kicked when he waxed fat, and forgot about God. True thankfulness,
in which God in Christ is praised and we become nothing, is like
patience in tribulation, no fruit of our field, but is the fruit of
faith in the providence of God, and is the work of grace in us,
exercised only in communion with Him, Who is not only the sin
offering, but also the thank offering for His own.
    
    As patience in adversity, and thankfulness in prosperity are
fruits of grace, so also is it a fruit of grace that in all things,
which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our
faithful God and Father. To have such a firm trust demands that we
give ourselves up unconditionally to the guidance and disposition of
God. For us it is hidden, entirely hidden what shall befall us.
Whether our life will be short or long, whether we will have
prosperity or adversity, health or sickness, no one knows but He who
sends us our portion according to His eternal council. We would so
gladly lift up the veil of that dark unknown future. That is sadly
evident from the way in which so many in these days seek the answers
to their questions by means of soothsayers, fortune tellers, or what
other name such women use (for Satan usually uses women for this),
who say they can foretell the future as Saul did by means of the
woman at Endor. Why? Because those many, like Saul, are unable and
unwilling to submit to God's government. Although we do not go to
fortune tellers, believe me, our hearts are no different. We, fallen
children of Adam, seek our life without God; we want to go ahead of
him, and will not follow him. That is because of our corrupt state.
Did we not become lord and master? Did we not believe the words of
Satan, "Ye shall be as God?" Who then is the Lord, that He should
guide our lot? The regulation of our lives shall lie in our hands,
not in God's hand. Flesh and blood does not teach us to give
ourselves entirely for time and eternity into God's hand, so that He
will do with us according to His good pleasure. It is by faith that
God's children, purchased with soul and body by the blood of the
Lamb, so know themselves to belong to the Lord that they live on His
account, so that all things shall work together for good to them
that are called according to His purpose, whether it be prosperity
or adversity, gain or loss; all things without exception, even
though it seems to be otherwise, all things shall work together for
good for the people of God.
    
    The unconditional surrender to the Lord teaches us our
dependence upon the Lord, saying with David, "Mine eyes are ever
toward the Lord." "Mine eyes are unto Thee, O Lord," whatever may
happen, for faith in God's providence makes us trust that whatever
God brings upon us will be for our good, and that He will, somehow,
give deliverance even from death. The providence of God is for him
who believes not in fate, nor fortune; both disappointments and
successes are of God according to His adorable plan. Only by faith
do we yield to that providence. Our nature would turn matters about
and wickedly make God's providence serve our happiness. That is
especially evident in lotteries, and therefore our fathers condemned
all games of chance sharply. God's providence guides the casting of
lots. "The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof
is of the Lord." There is a use of the lot that is holy, namely,
when it is not used in play or for our own gain, but to know the
will and decision of God, to His glory. Playing with the providence
of God is condemned. Thus all lotteries are condemned and all games
that depend on luck or chance, card and dice games. Let us keep
watch in our home and round about, also that our children do not
become accustomed to games with dice or other means by which
"chance" is used, even if used for the benefit of charity.
    
    To be confident for the future is a rich fruit of faith in God's
providence; but how rarely that fruit is found. Do you not see that
the whole matter of insurance which is reaching out farther and
farther, is only an attempt to take our future out of God's hands?
"These things do the Gentiles seek," said Christ. "Therefore, take
no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or
Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ... for your heavenly Father
knoweth that ye have need of all these things." He cares for His
people more than for the birds of the air and for the lilies of the
field. He saves them time after time from the greatest dangers, so
that God's people can sing with the Psalmist in Psalter No. 175, st.
1 and 3.
    
    Application
    
    What shall our answer be to the question: "What believest thou
of the providence of God?" According to the Scriptures I may hope
that all of you, both young and old agree with the instructor of
old, and that you will never give up your orthodox confession. May
that confession have such a deep impression in our hearts that we
will walk accordingly. If you should come upon deep ways, in riddles
that you cannot solve, do not be tempted to consult the satanic work
of fortune tellers. Let Saul be an example to you, who fell into
this sin in Endor, and to whom Satan appeared in the form of Samuel.
Soon Saul was entirely in the power of the devil and ended his own
life. Oh, keep your foot from the paths of fortune-tellers and
sorcery and do not give you ear, even for one moment to spiritism;
that is only the work of the powers of hell. God only knows what
lies in the future. He guides it and from His hand all things come
to us. Bow before Him. Tell all your troubles to Him alone, even if
only because you are convinced of the truth. He can strengthen you
in adversities and give deliverance. Humble yourself under the
mighty hand of God. The Lord keep us from forgetting Him in
prosperity, and also from setting our hearts on the things of this
earth. Submit to His providential government. Many in these days are
forsaking God; the future is dark. After the terrible world war, the
rumors of war have not been silent for one day. The Indies are full
of turmoil; our sons and young men are far from home, exposed day by
day to the greatest dangers. What shall be the end? Consult God's
Word that tells you what shall happen when the seals are opened and
the trumpets are sounded and the vials are poured out. The world by
its sins, is making itself ripe for the judgments that shall
certainly come, yea, for the final judgment which is coming nearer
and nearer. Away with all your insurances! Seek refuge in the cleft
of the rock and all shall be well for time and eternity. Can money
and possessions make you happy? The world passes away and the lust
thereof. Remember the word spoken by a god fearing mother to her
son, "Do not rejoice too much in prosperity, nor grieve too much in
adversity." Above all, the Lord grant you heart-renewing grace to
seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things for which your nature takes so much care, will be added unto
you.
    
    Do not despise the poor people of God. Although not many rich
and not many nobles are called, still God's people have, even in
this life, something that the world lacks. The little they receive
is given to them from the right hand of the Father, it is sanctified
by the meritorious work of Christ. Oh, if in the exercise of grace
they may embrace something of it, they despise the whole world,
saying with Paul, "By whom the world is crucified unto me, and I
unto the world." So the world was as a crucified one to him as he
was such in the eyes of the world.
    
    O, people of God, let this be the practice of our life. How the
whole world became nothing when the Lord opened the eyes of your
soul, when with Moses you considered the reproach of Christ greater
riches than the treasures of Egypt or the pleasures of sin. Is it
still not so, when you feel a little of the love of God in your
heart? Alas, how our soul can cleave unto the dust! May the Lord
make us more heavenly-minded, that we may seek another fatherland.
If many tribulations are your portion, poverty, scorn from your
enemy, sadness in your home, secret sorrow due to estrangement
between husband and wife because of the name of the Lord, grief from
your children, or any other matter, do not let it be too burdensome
to you. In the Bible we find examples of the ways of affliction by
which God leads His people for His honour and for their profit. He
shall not leave you, nor forsake you. He has shown that to you so
many times how Christ, the sympathizing High Priest was tempted in
all things, sin excepted, so that He can help His people in all
things. His people will not always grieve, for He Himself has said,
"Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." All things happen
according to God's counsel, but it is a comfort for God's children
that the Lord shall guide them with His counsel, and afterward
receive them to glory. May the Lord comfort you with that thought.
Bear a little longer the oppression and scorn of the world. Let men
despise, exclude and trample upon you; soon it shall all be ended,
and you shall sing of the deepest ways before the throne of God, Who
led you and redeemed you to praise and glorify Him forever. Amen.
    
    



The Name Jesus

Lord's Day 11


Psalter No. 421 st. 6
Read Isaiah 7
Psalter No. 203 st. 1, 2, 5
Psalter No. 425 st. 3
Psalter No. 3 st. 2, 3, 4


Beloved!
    
    With much clearness and power Isaiah has foretold the coming of
Christ in the flesh, saying, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and
bear a Son, and shall call His name Emmanuel."
    
    It was to the wicked King Ahab, who had built his hope of
deliverance upon the covenant with the King of Assyria, that the
prophet spoke this word of the Lord. Rezin of Syria, and Pekah, the
son of Remaliah, the King of Israel, had gone up to war against
Jerusalem and Ahab could not prevail against them. In one day
120,000 of the men of Ahab fell, while 200,000 women, sons and
daughters were carried away captive by Israel, and the land was
plundered. Moreover the Edomites and the Philistine had invaded the
South. Was it any wonder that the hearts of Ahab and of his people
were moved as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind? At his
wit's end, Ahab made a covenant with Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria,
which took all the gold and silver that was found in the house of
the Lord and in the treasures of the king's house. How very glad
Ahab was to have received the mighty king of Assyria as his ally!
This clever act of statesmanship saved him!
    
    But now Isaiah came to him with the message that he must trust
in the Lord. Evidently the prophet had a good message, for he came
at God's command to Ahab with his son Shear-jashub, whose name means
"the Lord saves." No mighty ruler, but the Lord shall save His
people, regardless of the abominable sins they have committed. The
Lord condescends so far, that He is willing to confirm His promise
with a sign. Ahab may ask for a sign either in the depth or in the
height.
    
    But Ahab declined to do so. What business was it of Isaiah? The
king shall take care of the matters of state, let the prophet
confine himself to religion! Very piously but with bitter hatred
Ahab said, "I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord." And
then, when Ahab cut off all divine help, the Lord gave a prophecy,
"Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign, 'Behold, a virgin
shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Emmanuel'."
The faithful Jehovah shall, in spite of the hardness of Ahab, save
His people. Judah cannot disappear until Shiloh comes to deliver His
people from their enemies, but that deliverance is not the work of
men. God shall provide a Branch, Who shall sit upon David's throne
forever. A virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit, shall bear a Son
without intervention of a man. The Son of God became the Son of man.
His name shall be called Emmanuel, that is, God with us. Already in
the 5th and 6th Lord's Days, the instructor showed us clearly that
only such a Mediator could save Adam's sons and daughters from their
state of deep misery. He only can and shall save His people.
Therefore at the annunciation of His birth the angel already called
His name Jesus, that is, Savior.
    
    The eleventh Lord's Day of the Heidelberg Catechism for which I
now ask your attention speaks of that name Jesus.
    
    Lord's Day 11
    
Q. 29: Why is the Son of God called Jesus, that is a Savior?
A. Because He saveth us, and delivereth us from our sins; and
    likewise, because we ought not to seek, neither can find
    salvation in any other.

Q. 30: Do such then believe in Jesus the only Savior, who seek their
    salvation and welfare of saints, of themselves, or anywhere
    else?
A. They do not; for though they boast of Him in words, yet in deeds
    they deny Jesus the only deliverer and Savior; for one of these
    two things must be true, that either Jesus is not a complete
    Savior; or that they, who by a true faith receive this Savior,
    must find all things in Him necessary to their salvation.

    The name Jesus is given to the Son of God
    
      I Because He alone saves,
    
     II So that for our salvation we reject all else,
    
    III Because in Him by faith His people have everything.
    
    I
    
    The twelve articles of faith are divided into 3 parts. The first
part of God the Father and our creation has been clarified in Lord's
Days 9 and 10. Lord's Day 11 begins the explanation of what is
confessed regarding God the Son and our redemption. No less than
nine Lord's Days are devoted to this important part. Three Lord's
Days teach us about the person of the Mediator by explaining His
names. The next three speak of the state of His humiliation, while
the last three speak of His exaltation. Lord's Day 11, then,
considers the name Jesus.
    
    Jesus is the personal name of the Mediator, as Christ is His
official name. Other names are also given to the Messiah in the Word
of God. He is Emmanuel, God with us; the Son of God; the Son of Man;
and His name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God,
the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. The name Jesus is a
summary of all these names. This name was given to the Mediator at
the command of God. "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins." In accordance with that, the angel
spoke of Mary to Joseph, "She shall bear a Son and thou shalt call
His name Jesus." Therefore "when eight days were accomplished for
the circumcising of the child, His name was called Jesus, which was
so named of the angel before He was conceived in the womb." (Luke
2:27). During His sojourn on earth He was known by that name. Above
His cross was written: "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."
The apostles preached in that name. The dying Stephen cried out:
"Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," and to Paul He appeared saying, "I
am Jesus whom thou persecutes." And till the end of time remission
of sins will be preached in His name. The name Jesus is the
Mediator's personal name.
    
    This name was commonly used among the Jews. We also find it in
the New Testament. A helper of Paul bore this name. (Col. 4:11). We
also read of the sorcerer Bar-Jesus, (Acts 13:6) and in Heb. 4:8,
Joshua is called Jesus, for the name Joshua, as also Hoses, means
the same as Jesus. Joshua was a type of the Savior, both Joshua the
successor of Moses and Joshua, the High Priest.
    
    Moses could not bring the people into Canaan. He himself would
not enter Canaan for he had struck the rock instead of speaking to
it. He had spoken, but entirely wrong, for in that speaking he had
robbed God of His honour. Moses said, "Hear now, ye rebels; must
*we* fetch you water out of this rock?" *We*, Moses and Aaron? But
could *they* do so? Does not Paul teach us that this miracle that
water flowed from the rock was possible only because Christ was the
rock of His people: "The spiritual rock that followed them was
Christ." But Moses did not point to Him; on the contrary, He was
pushed aside, and thus he struck a blow to the true salvation, to
the true rest of Israel. Therefore the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
"Because ye believed Me not to sanctify Me in the eyes of the
children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation
into the land which I have given them." Moses, the representative of
the law, was not able to give rest. His successor Joshua would lead
the weary tribes into the rest, destroying the mighty Canaanites,
and taking their inheritance. Thus Joshua was a type of the Lord
Jesus. He crushes the head of every enemy, and brings His elect into
the spiritual and eternal rest.
    
    The High Priest Joshua also points us to Christ. In Zecharia 3
he is pictured as standing before God, clothed in filthy garments.
The people are all unclean, and in the high priest the people are
justified in spite of Satan, according to God's good pleasure. That
was possibly only because the Lamb was slain before the foundation
of the world, and would one day in our flesh take upon himself the
sins of all His people. He was the Joshua who stood before God in
filthy garments, not for His own sins, but for the sins of His
people. He paid the debt for their salvation. His name is Jesus, for
He saves His people from their sins. Saving them is so great a work
that He alone is able to do it, and we cannot seek nor find any
salvation with anyone else. He who was given of the Father, He alone
is the Savior, excluding everything of the creature. "There is none
other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."
He only merited salvation and He Himself applies it to His people.
For saving Adam's posterity not only means to merit salvation, but
also demands the application of the merited salvation to the heart
of him for whom it is merited. That is overlooked too much in our
days, not only by those who teach that God wants all men to be saved
and that Jesus died for all men, or worse, by those who scorn,
ignore or reject Jesus as the Nazarene; but also by many, although
they emphasize that there is salvation in none other (for it was
merited only by His suffering and death), yet in practice they
diverge so much that it seems while praising Him with the mouth,
they deny Him by their deeds.
    
    Their constant advice is, "You must go to Jesus with your sins;
you must accept Him and believe in Him. It is your own fault if you
remain outside, for Jesus calls you, so go to Him", etc. A right
professor of the truth will never deny that if a person is lost it
is his own fault, and that the condemnation shall be doubly heavy
for those who have lived under the offer of grace; but on the other
hand, it is of free grace if anyone comes to Christ. "No man comets
to the Father but by Me, and no man comets unto Me except the Father
which sent Me, draw him", said Christ Himself. A man can receive
nothing, except it be given him from heaven. We cannot and will not
come to Jesus even though He has been preached to us from childhood,
and although we confess Him according to the Scriptures, we shall
never seek life in Him, nor go to Him in truth with our sins. He
merited salvation perfectly; not a mite more shall ever be demanded;
no sacrifice shall ever again be required. What would this benefit
us, dead in sin and full of enmity as we are against free grace, if
this merited salvation were not applied to us. The application of
that salvation is also the work of Christ. He finds His people in
the state of death, and there He calls them by their names. The
saving work of the Lord does not commence in our souls when we ask
and seek timidly for Him, but when in enmity against God we hasten
on to our destruction, without Christ, and without hope. There the
Lord takes those He has purchased with His blood as a fire brand out
of the burning. There He Himself applies that salvation to them, and
they shall never be lost. But oh, how very necessary that Christ
Himself shall work the application and also the appropriation by
faith, so that the soul shall acknowledge Christ as the perfect
Savior. How often we see in the lives of God's children that the
heir, though he be lord of all, differs nothing from a servant,
because he is under tutors and governors. Here those heirs mistake
the meriting, there the applying. Here they seek peace in their
prayers and tears and instructive reading and sweet communion with
God's people. They think it is well with them when they are in a
sweet frame, as though God's justice can be satisfied with anything
less than the righteousness of Christ; and they lose hope as soon as
the sweet frame passes. Thus many souls are held in the bands of
unbelief, and are prevented from coming to Jesus, in whom alone
their salvation and redemption can be found. Oh, if the Lord did not
apply salvation, the poor soul oppressed by shame and guilt, would
wander away from Christ to eternal perdition. Yet He leads us upon
ways and paths that are entirely unknown to us; and He uncovers us
and causes us to complain bitterly that it is becoming worse with
us, and we are losing hope until we are brought to our wit's end,
and guilty of death, we throw away our money as of no value on the
market of free grace, and learn to know Him who reveals Himself to
us as the only and complete Savior. There is salvation in none
other. Then He becomes precious above all others. Our soul pants and
thirsts after Him as a heart pants after the water brooks. How can
we leave Him? He has the words of eternal life. Oh, such souls would
want to cry after Him all their lives, that they might receive Him
as their only salvation. However, they find that their arms are too
short to receive Jesus as their complete Savior. Their claim upon
Jesus is so furiously contested, the question is raised whether He
ever paid for their sins, and they have no might against that great
multitude. Oh, could they but come to Jesus, could they accept Him!
    
    Nothing is more impossible than that, and it becomes more and
more impossible. All those things that formerly gave them hope, that
serious seeking, those heartfelt longings, the earnest pleading upon
God's promises, that listening to the Word with fruit for their
soul, and so many other things have all disappeared, making place
for dullness, and lukewarmness and even enmity against free grace.
Truly, if anything of man were necessary to attain salvation, these
souls could give up all hope of being saved. Oh, what an unspeakable
blessing: Christ Himself applies salvation, as He has also merited
it. He cuts them off from their old root and grafts them into
Himself. He is able to apply it since He has conquered death and the
grave, and no enemy can hinder Him in His work. Satan's head is
bruised, nor can the enmity of our heart prevail over His love.
God's elect shall glory that they were reconciled with God as
enemies, and that this Mediator is their Jesus because He saves His
people from their sins, and moreover, that no salvation can be
sought or found elsewhere. He saves, yes, He alone, by having us
here in this life lose ourselves more and more and lean upon Him,
and later by leading us by His power through death to eternal glory,
so that in never-ending song we shall acknowledge with the
innumerable hosts of those purchased by His blood, "Thou art Jesus,
Savior, for Thou hast merited and applied salvation to us."
    
    His people shall forever ascribe to Him all the glory to which
He, as the only and complete Savior is entitled. If already in this
life we shall acknowledge this Jesus by faith, it is necessary, as
we shall now hear in the second place,
    
    II
    
to reject all other help to our salvation.
    
    Question 30 speaks of this very clearly: "Do such then believe
in Jesus the only Savior, who seek their salvation of saints, of
themselves or anywhere else?"
    And the definite answer of the instructor is: "They do not, for
though they boast of Him in words, yet in deeds they deny Jesus, the
only Deliverer and Savior."
    
    There are saints; they are in heaven, and even upon earth by the
renewal of the Holy Spirit. Are God's children not called a holy
nation, a peculiar people, that shows forth the praises of Him Who
called them out of darkness into His marvelous light? But those
saints were saved only by Jesus through grace. Saints as the Roman
Catholic Church have are nothing; people who by their good works
enjoy special favour with God, and can "commend" us before God, or
have a treasury of merit, do not exist. Those saints in themselves
are also condemnable before God. Hence, as our confession says, it
is dishonoring instead of honoring the saints, when we seek our
welfare and salvation from them, and kneel before their images
crying "Holy Mary, or Peter, or who it may be, pray for us." The
Roman Catholics indeed deny Him, the only deliverer and Savior,
although they boast of Him in words. They have neither part nor lot
in Him. Mary did not rejoice in her holiness, but called Jesus her
Savior. Hence he who seeks his welfare and salvation with the
saints, denies the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the only and true
Savior. Outside of Him no salvation can be sought or found. Everyone
feels that this question is directed against the Roman Catholics,
for with their words they praise Jesus, but by their actions they
deny Him. Oh no, they do not say that Jesus is not the Savior, but
they deny Him as a complete Savior and they also teach that we need
an intercessor with that Savior. They would honour the Savior so
highly that we, poor sinners, cannot approach Him. We must have
someone to intercede with Him for us, and that can be done by the
saints who excel in holiness and have entered into glory. Those
angels and saints are special favorites with Him, and therefore we
must call upon them so that by their intercession we can be saved.
    
    Tell me, can Jesus as Savior be denied more by any other means?
Does not all that is within Him yearn to save sinners? For whom else
did He give Himself unto the death on the cross, than for lost
sinners? How were the saints saved otherwise than by this Savior
alone, without any of their good works, hence as miserable,
condemnable sinners before God? On what then could they rest their
plea? Away then with the doctrine of worshipping angels and saints!
It is a denial of Jesus' perfect atonement and of the eternal love
with which He has loved and always shall love His own, so that He
shall save them freely. Away with that cursed doctrine! Scripture
teaches us so differently: "Abraham is ignorant of us, and Israel
acknowledges us not: Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer; Thy
name is from everlasting." When Cornelius, the centurion of
Caesarean, fell at Peter's feet, the apostle took him up and said,
"I myself also am a man." Paul and Barnabas also refused the honour
the heathens of Lystra would have heaped upon them, rending their
clothes and crying, "We also are men of like passions with you."
When John on Patmos would worship the angel, he was reprimanded:
"See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy
brethren; worship God."
    
    Hence, saints may not be worshipped, nor angels. Jesus is the
only and complete Savior of miserable sinners. Yet in practice we
are so Roman Catholic. Here we cling to a dear child of God, there
we lean upon a god fearing father or mother in heaven, yonder ...
but if you are no stranger to your innate enmity against free grace,
you feel that in thousands of ways we deny in deeds the only Savior
Jesus, although we boast of Him in words. We must be loosed from all
creatures to lean only upon the Lord.
    
    Neither can the angels be our saviors. They have not suffered
for us. They are of another nature than we. Upon God's command they
will protect the elect, but they are unable to do anything toward
our salvation. Whoever seeks the salvation of their soul with them
is deceiving himself.
    
    Nor may we seek our welfare and salvation elsewhere. God fearing
parents or other relatives or friends can do nothing for our real
welfare. Cursed be the man that maketh flesh his arm. There is but
one Savior who can save us.
    
    Neither with the saints may we seek salvation, nor with the
angels, nor with ourselves, nor with anything else. Yet we are
always inclined to do so.
    
    "Of ourselves." Think of that Pharisaical life. Paul is a clear
example. He thought he was pleasing God when he boasted above others
that trusted in the flesh, that is, in self; he was circumcised the
eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning
zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in
the law, blameless." He sought all his salvation in self. How many
are like Saul, who consider their baptism, and family, and legal
zeal, or clear understanding of the way of salvation as their
Savior. You meet people who have no knowledge of spiritual life, yet
have such a clear understanding of the Word and the way of God's
children, that they make you think of those described in Hebrews 6:
they were enlightened, have tasted of the heavenly gift, were made
partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good Word of God,
and the powers of the world to come. Yet they never have the least
need in their heart for the only Savior Jesus. Let everyone take
heed, for outside of Jesus there is no way to life. With our own
manufactured saviors we will be eternally lost.
    
    We must give up all that is ours if we would trust that only
Savior, for He does not divide His work with us; He is our Savior
alone, or He is not our Savior at all. Oh, how hard it is for God's
people to honour Him as such, and how often we perceive that we have
many saviors. The words of the daughters of Jerusalem are not
strange to us: "What is thy Beloved more than another beloved, that
thou dost charge us so?" We often turn aside by the flocks of Jesus'
companions. It is as if we had other lovers of our soul, as if we
knew other shepherds, and other flocks. That causes us to remain
hidden; we cannot come out, our heart lacks liberty; we cannot
attain a firm foundation for our soul, and we are beaten by the
waves of doubt and unbelief. Often we seek salvation where it is not
to be found. We must be taken off so many foundations, while we need
the Holy Spirit to cut us off from everything so that we will truly
trust in Christ. We must die every day if we shall have some
exercise of faith in Jesus as our own Savior.
    
    That exercise of faith is of the most importance. I repeat this
also for their sake who seek their life in their emotions. We are
headed for other times. Since the intellectual view of Scripture has
become hollow and is rejected, men want a religion with feeling;
religion must have warmth. Already men are looking to the East,
where men's mentality is so much warmer and deeper than with us
superficial, cool Westerners. Sadhu Sundar Sing (formerly a kind of
Buddhistic Nazarite) had to come out of far away India to tell
Holland Christians what God had taught him of salvation. Has God
then in Netherlands no more people that know and fear Him? Could
they not tell better, and without the fallacies of Sundar Sing about
heaven and hell, what their soul has experienced of God and of
divine matters? But men want a feeling that is not based upon
Scripture; a blessed feeling, but not salvation in Jesus. That
foolish religiosity has something to say to us. They who seek
salvation in that dethrone the Savior, deny Him. I pray you, do not
rest upon a tear and a strong emotion. Can we be saved without
Jesus? Awake, thou that sleepest! We, lost sons of Adam, must be
reconciled with God by the blood of the Lamb. There is no other way,
no other way needs to be opened. In Jesus alone lies all salvation.
"He that believeth on the Son has everlasting life, and he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him."
    
    That makes salvation possible for the most wretched sinner, who
sees no way of escape; to whom all seems empty; who can not live on
the tastes of God's goodness and mercy, however much they refresh
the soul. The justice of God demands satisfaction which cannot be
rendered by previous experiences, nor by our emotions, which have no
foundation. God's holy majesty cannot allow us in His fellowship
because of our sin.
    
    Christ invites the weary and the thirsty ones, those that cannot
keep alive their own soul, to find their salvation outside of self,
in Jesus. Oh, that our heart would thirst after Him. Come ye to the
waters, buy without money, and without price. Nothing of ours need
be added, no sigh, no tear, nothing! Jesus merited salvation and
applies it. We ourselves are standing in the way. We are too rich;
we have too much to be reconciled to God as an enemy. May the
discovering grace of God take away all of self, making room in our
hearts for Him Whose name is Jesus, because He saves His people from
their sins.
    
    Never shall we be able to fathom the depth that lies in the Name
Jesus. Every time we are shown from another side what that name
means, for always anew our own sinful self reveals itself; it
refuses to walk the way of grace, but turns to sin and corruption.
Therefore that name becomes more and more precious to us, and the
wonder becomes greater that the Son of God became the Savior, and
that for us. He glorifies His power more and more for the
mortification of our members that are on earth. He not only is the
ground of our justification, but in Him is also deliverance from
sin. He would have His people know more and more their need of Him,
so that with all the evil that continually besets them they may find
forgiveness in Him and may be freed from their bonds. In Him, yea,
in Him alone they shall glory by faith; His name is Jesus, for He
saves His people from their sin. Thus He begins here on earth to be
glorified in and by His people and there will be in them a growing
in the knowledge of the Savior, that causes them to cry out in
adoration, "Thou, Lord Jesus, hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood."
Here already they taste the beginning of eternal joy, which shall be
complete when they cast their crown before Him and will honour Him
perfectly to all eternity.
    
    He bears the name Jesus, because, as we now consider in the
third place,
    
    III
    
His people have all things in Him by faith.
    
    How simply but very truly the Catechism says, "For one of these
two things must be true, that either Jesus is not a complete Savior;
or that they, who by a true faith receive this Savior, must find all
things in Him necessary to their salvation."
    
    The Roman Catholic Church and all others who deny man's state of
death, deny that Jesus is a complete Savior. They take the crown
from His head and place it on theirs. They ascribe the attaining of
salvation partly or completely to their free will and good works.
Oh, how they will find themselves deceived! The Lord Jesus is the
only and complete Savior. Nothing, not even the least bit of man can
serve for his salvation.
    
    He is the Savior, because as Mediator He both merited and
applied salvation. He delivers His people from the greatest evil,
and makes them partakers of the supreme good. He delivers from sin.
The angel announced to Joseph, "He shall save His people from their
sins," and therefore this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
sinners who are condemnable before God, and live without Him in the
world; sinners who neither can nor want to do aught but add sin to
sin, thus increasing the gulf between themselves and God unto
eternal perdition. They do not want to know the way of salvation,
but are bitterly opposed to free grace. Adam's sons and daughters
Jesus saves, them He purchased with His blood, for in eternity He
offered Himself to His Father as their Mediator. To them He applies
salvation when He stops them on their way of sin and fells them with
His Spirit, and to them He reveals the eternal Savior in the measure
in which they know themselves to be sinners. The important thing for
everyone is to become a sinner before God, for he who does not know
himself as a sinner, knows not Jesus as a Savior. Becoming a sinner
before God is something quite different than merely realizing that
we do wrong things, and are often inclined to wickedness. Such a
realization is found in some measure in heathens that have some
sense of justice (Rom. 1:19, 20) and that sense may certainly be
supposed to be in all professors of the truth. But the true
knowledge of our misery is the work of the Holy Spirit, and is quite
different. It stirs up fear of God in us, and yet not slavish fear,
although the soul is often held in bands, but rather filial fear
that leads to God, and causes one to confess his sins to God
uprightly and with sorrow. That sinner has to do with God, with the
implacable righteous One, with the spotlessly Holy One. That makes
sin so dreadful.
    
    In the light of man's own reason and conscience, sin can be so
desperately great, but what must sin then be in the light of God's
glorious perfections. "Woe is me! for I am undone," called Isaiah,
and would not every uncovered sinner cry out about himself, "I am
undone"? Sinners shall be saved, and whatever we think we are more
than sinners, prevents us from knowing the complete Savior. Notice
the Bible saints, and let the children of God bear witness out of
their own experience, whether it was not thus. To the degree that
Jesus had become a more precious, more necessary and more complete
Savior, to that degree they had learned to know themselves as
sinners. That shall be the only hope of salvation for all that
people. "He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities."
    He *saves*. He paid for the debt of Zion to the justice of God,
but He also conquered Satan, sin and the world. Now we find a
twofold blessing in Him: as we stand guilty before the justice of
God, we find satisfaction; and as our soul is held captive by the
power of unrighteousness, we find deliverance. This makes Him so
suitable for hearts that have learned to know themselves. Oh,
everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, everyone that
thirsteth after righteousness and after the cleansing of their soul.
    Their guilt is never too great; their soul is never too black;
their backsliding, and their faithless turning away are never so
that He cannot find a ransom. In Him is eternal salvation, but only
in Him. How God's children should continually stir up one another as
the poet says in Psalm 105 as we shall sing,
    "Seek ye Jehovah and His power," etc. Psalter No. 425 st. 3
    
    Application
    
    And now, beloved, may the instruction of this Catechism be
precious, especially in these days, to us and to our children, so
that we do not yield in our warfare with the Roman Catholics and
with all that deny the only Savior. But may the Lord especially
grant us true knowledge of Jesus Who saves His people. The whole
world seeks satisfaction. We have lost God and that loss in us calls
for fulfillment. It is so in all men. That is why the stadiums are
filled Sunday after Sunday; that is why thousands are drawn to the
theaters every day, and that is why their empty souls watch whatever
is presented in movies and all things shown at Vanity Fair. All
those thousands seek and ask for fulfillment; but not where it is to
be found. Their soul is averse to Jesus and His Word, and still, the
whole world shall leave them empty. Without God and without Christ,
and therefore without hope for eternity; that is the judgment upon
all that seek their salvation, not in Jesus, but elsewhere.
    
    May it fall as a thunderbolt upon our empty soul. Our hope is
vanity, a hope of spiders, if we are strangers of the only Savior.
Appreciate the fact that God allows us and our children to live
under the preaching of His Word; but consider that also the
preaching of that Word shall one day testify against us if we never
have true fellowship with that Mediator, whose name is Savior.
    
    If you can find no rest, let your uncovered soul seek peace only
in that Savior. May the Lord take away all grounds outside of Jesus.
Continue seeking Him and may He grant you to know Him as the one Who
both merited salvation, and applies salvation. Do ask yourself
continually what you have learned of that only Savior. Did He reveal
Himself to your soul by the Holy Spirit, so that you must cry out
with Peter, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God"? There
can be so many changes in our life, and emotions in our soul that
are not saving. The story of Orpah was not placed in the Bible for
naught. Should we then build up ourselves and others in various
frames and marks of grace? Nevertheless, Christ does not forsake the
work of His hands. He shall confirm it, but He does it by leading us
to Jesus, and revealing Him in our soul. No one is deceived in Him,
but true knowledge of Him fills our heart with so much joy and
wonderment, that all our affections are drawn to Him. "Thy name is
as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love Thee." Oh
what a precious time God's children experience when often for a long
time they may experience sweet communion with Christ! That
abominable unbelief is subdued more and more. There is not as much
drifting upon feeling, but faith is directed more and more upon Him
Who said, "Flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee, but my
Father which is in heaven." Did it not seem as if you could taste a
little of that which the disciples were privileged to have during
the three years that they walked with Him on earth? Yet with all
that our hearts remain closed for the mediatorial work of Jesus. If
Peter could have prevented it, the Lord would never have died, and
neither do we want to be saved by Him alone. How indispensable then
it is for God's people to discover their foolishness and their
enmity against free grace. Then your life becomes so different. Then
you see yourself without Christ in the world, and unreconciled with
God. May that lack drive you in lively yearning to the Lord, that
you may know Him as your Savior. To that end it is necessary that we
lose our life and find it in Him alone. God Himself must cut us off
if we shall be grafted into the true vine. We cannot take hold of
Him, not even with all our longing after Him; but may He assure us
that He has become not only for others, but also for ourselves the
ground of eternal salvation. May He comfort our souls in the warfare
which we must fight in this life and cause us to enter into the
house of His Father, in which He has prepared mansions for His
people. Amen.
    
    



The Significance of the Name Christ for The Mediator and for His
Elect

Lord's Day 12


Psalter No. 194 St. 3, 4
Read Psalm 45
Psalter No. 124 St. 6, 7
Psalter No. 401 St. 3, 4
Psalter No. 421 St. 5


Beloved!

    Since man was created in the image and likeness of God in
knowledge, righteousness and holiness, he was a prophet, priest and
king. As a prophet he knew God, his Creator, as a priest he served
Him, offering himself in perfect love, and as king he had dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
every creeping thing on the earth. Thus his creation after God's
image shone forth to the glory of God.
    
    In his fall man's nature changed entirely. He became a debtor to
the justice of God, that sentenced him to death. Moreover, his
nature was so corrupted that his understanding is darkened and he no
longer knows his Maker and Creator, so that instead of offering
himself to God, he serves sin with both soul and body, and the king
of the world has become a slave of the devil. God the Father does in
His providential reign prevent him from living as he wishes, so that
God shall endure the world until the last elect shall be gathered
in; but this long suffering and reign of God does not change man's
corrupt state. Bound with chains of darkness, sin and Satan, he runs
to his eternal perdition. The consciousness of the existence of God,
nor what Rom. 2:14 and 15 calls the work of the law written in their
hearts, nor the small remnants of his dominion to which the world
once was subject, cannot enable him to climb up, no matter how hard
he tries, to the glorious and perfect state in which God had created
him. On the contrary, he moves farther and farther away from it.
Whether living in open sin or seeking life in self-righteousness, he
is with soul and body a servant of sin and of the devil. He will do
the lusts of his father, the devil. Not by improvement, but only by
regenerating grace fallen man can be delivered from the state of his
deep misery. The world does reach for a lost paradise, but by the
destructions that the development of its power brings and will bring
about, it gives abundant proof that not fallen man, but only God can
deliver us from the slavery of sin, and restore us into fellowship
with Him.
    How clearly Scripture speaks of this, not only when the Lord
Jesus testifies: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God", but also when the
apostle calls God's people a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
peculiar people, that (as prophet) would show forth the praises of
Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light,
hence a people that shall be prophet and priest and king.
    
    It is only in true fellowship of faith with Him Who was anointed
with the Holy Spirit without measure, of Whom David sang in Psalm
45: "Therefore, God, Thy God, has anointed Thee with the oil of
gladness above Thy fellows." He is the Mediator, whose name is
Christ, that is anointed. Why He bears that name, and why His
followers are called Christians is explained by the twelfth Lord's
Day of our Heidelberg Catechism.
    
    Lord's Day 12
    
Q. 31: Why is He called Christ, that is Anointed?
A. Because He is ordained of God the Father, and anointed with the
    Holy Ghost to be our chief Prophet and Teacher, who has fully
    revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning
    our redemption; and to be our only High Priest, who by the one
    sacrifice of his body, has redeemed us, and makes continual
    intercession with the Father for us; and also to be our eternal
    King, who governs us by His word and Spirit, and who defends
    and preserves us in (the enjoyment of) that salvation, He has
    purchased for us.

Q. 32: But why art thou called a Christian?
A. Because I am a member of Christ by faith, and thus am partaker of
    His anointing; that so I may confess His name, and present
    myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him; and also that
    with a free and good conscience I may fight against sin and
    Satan in this life; and afterwards reign with Him eternally
    over all creatures.
    
    This Lord's Day therefore teaches us the significance of the
name Christ, both for the Mediator and for His elect.
    
    Let us then hear:
    
      I. How that name speaks of the ordination and qualification of
         the Mediator;
    
     II. Of which offices the Name testifies; and
    
    III. Why His people are called after that name.
    
    As we have already mentioned while speaking of the Mediator's
personal name, the name Christ is His official name. That is the
difference between the two names: Jesus and Christ. The first is His
personal name which He received by means of the angel, and which
teaches us who He is; while Christ is His official name which
teaches us what He is, prophet, priest and king, as the catechism
declares in the first question of this Lord's Day.
    
    The name Christ, which in Hebrew is Messiah means Anointed. In
olden times when a chosen one was called to an important office, he
was anointed. Thus Scripture mentions anointing to prophet, to
priest and to king. At God's command Elijah had to anoint Elisha,
the son of Shaphat, to be prophet in his place. The prophets are
called God's anointed in Psalm 105: "Touch not mine anointed, and do
my prophets no harm." The anointing of priests is described in much
detail in the books of Moses, and Moses was commanded thus, "And
thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they
may minister unto me in the priest's office." Scripture also speaks
often of the anointing of kings.
    
    Anointing was a symbolic act that signified both the ordination
and the qualification for the office. To make this plain we shall
speak of the anointing of David. After the Lord had rejected from
the kingship, Saul, who was anointed with oil from a breakable vial,
Samuel was commanded "Fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send
thee to Jesse, the Bethlehemite; for I have provided Me a king among
his sons." Who of Jesse's sons had been ordained of the Lord was
still hidden for Samuel, and when the man of God looked on the
stature and height of Eliab, he thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed
is before Him"; but the divine answer was: "I have refused him." As
Abinadab passed before Samuel, it was, "Neither has the Lord chosen
this." Samuel said the same of Shammah and of all the seven sons
which Jesse brought to Samuel. Then, at last, David was called from
behind the sheep, and of him the Lord said, "Anoint him, for this is
he." Samuel therefore had to look away from all that pleases the
eye, and anoint the chosen of the Lord. The anointing expressed that
God had ordained David to be king in Saul's place. It was the same
with the anointing of all kings. The anointing of priests and kings
had the same signification. It showed that God had ordained them to
their office.
    
    Anointing had so great a signification that David said, when
Saul had been given in his hands at Engedi, "The Lord forbid that I
should stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the
anointed of the Lord."
    
    But there is more.
    
    Truly David, to confine our remarks to him, was a hero who had
slain a lion and a bear. However brave he might be, and however much
his soul might rejoice and strengthen himself in God, in order to be
king of the people of God, that were hated by all the heathens who
continually made war with them, his hands had to be taught to war.
David had to be qualified. In his anointing he was given a pledge of
that qualification. In full measure the holy anointing oil was
poured upon him, the whole contents of the horn was emptied over
him. Here, too, it was as in Ps. 133, "The ointment that ran down
upon the beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments."
    
    As then the ointment was poured out in a generous amount, so the
Holy Spirit would rest upon the anointed one to qualify him for the
office to which he was ordained.
    
    Thus anointing signified ordination and qualification, and was a
type of the anointing of the Son of God as Prophet, Priest and King.
This anointing was done in eternity, not in time. When Mary poured
the ointment upon Him, she was not anointing Him for an office.
"Against the day of my burial has she kept this." He never was
anointed with oil. That was impossible.
    
    The anointing of officers in the Old Dispensation was but a
shadow of the anointing of Christ in eternity. What happened here on
earth was but a limited action. However generously the Holy Spirit
was given to the person, and however much grace he received, the
Spirit was received with measure. The full horn or vial was soon
emptied, and as the overflowing stopped, so the dispensation of the
Holy Spirit was also limited. But Christ received the Spirit without
measure. He could say, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me;
because the Lord has anointed me." Of that complete, unlimited,
eternal anointing, David sings in Psalm 45: "Therefore God, Thy God,
has anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows." And
Peter testifies in Acts 10: "Ye know how God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Ghost." This anointing of the Lord includes
His being ordained, and also qualified. The ordination is from
eternity, the qualification took place in the fullness of time.
    
    Before the foundation of the world the Son of God was chosen by
the Father to the threefold office, and in the Council of Peace, God
the Son engaged His heart to approach to the Lord for His elect.
    
    No one in heaven or on earth could help man who in God's decrees
had already fallen. Then in God's unfathomable love the only
begotten of the Father, Whose delights were with the sons of men,
was ordained so that He as the Head of a better covenant, would lead
His people on to salvation, enlightening their foolish mind, atoning
for their sins, and breaking their bands. To be able to do that He
must in time be qualified. Was He then not qualified? No. To be able
to save His people He must be God, but also man, as the 6th Lord's
Day taught us. He was and remained eternal God. Yet He had to become
man. A body had to be prepared for Him. In accepting our human
nature, He was being qualified as our Mediator. Thus He was ordained
in eternity, and qualified in time. Thus the angels could announce
to the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem, "For unto you is born
this day a Savior, which is Christ the Lord."
    
    Furthermore, the qualification applies to the human nature.
There can be no qualification in the divine nature, for
qualification means adding gifts, and nothing can be added to His
divinity. He is very God, one in essence with the Father and the
Holy Spirit. What gift or glory could be given to the divine nature?
How could we speak of the Godhead of the Mediator partaking of the
Holy Spirit, since the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son as well as
from the Father? The anointing in as far as it means qualification,
communicating abilities can only refer to the human nature of
Christ. It includes the complete preparation of the human nature, so
that the secret counsel of God regarding our salvation may be
revealed. The Apostle refers to this in I Tim. 3:16: "And without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in
the flesh." This qualifying strengthened Christ to bring the
sacrifice necessary for our reconciliation, and to fight the battle
for the eternal victory. Of that qualification of His human nature
we also read in Luke 2:40, "And the child grew, and waxed strong in
spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him."
    
    In the baptism of the Lord, God openly demonstrated His
anointing. Jesus descended into the water and when He was risen, the
Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the shape of a dove and remained
upon Him.
    
    Thus Christ is the servant of the Father to complete the great
work of salvation, entrusted to Him, to save the elect without
violating any of God's attributes. God's only begotten Son was
chosen for that purpose and qualified thereto by the Holy Spirit.
"No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of
God."
    
    Thus in the name of Christ we see the great love of the Father,
Who gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believeth in Him
shall not perish but have everlasting life. Oh, He is precious to
you who believe. His name is as an oil poured forth, and reveals to
you not only the Mediator who became man, but also the eternal
counsel of God in which the Son was ordained, and the church was
entrusted to Him. Truly the salvation of God's people lies immovably
firm, above all the attacks of all enemies that so distress God's
people, and it is placed in the hands of Him Whose work cannot fail.
He is the Christ, the ordained and qualified Mediator. Should we not
exclaim with Peter: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God"?
    
    The meaning of the name Christ becomes even richer as the
instructor unfolds for us, in the second place
    
    II
    
of which offices of the Mediator this name speaks.
    
    The anointing of Christ refers to the three offices of Prophet,
Priest and King.
    
    In the 3rd Lord's Day the Catechism teaches us that God created
man after His own image. In order that the fallen but elect sinner
shall have again the glory that He shall never lose, the Son of God
out of eternal love, became an office-bearer, and caused himself to
be anointed by the Father with the Holy Spirit as Prophet, Priest
and King. The prophets, priests and kings in Israel were but shadows
of Him, and had no significance apart from Him. He is our chief
Prophet, our only High Priest, and our eternal King. That is evident
from the fact that He bears all three offices. None other was able
to do so, no one could even foreshadow Him in that. We read of
Melchizedek that he was a priest and a king, and David was a royal
prophet, but who bore all three offices at once? Who had such a
fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit as was necessary to fulfill
those three offices? God's people had to look away from God's given
servants to place their only hope upon the One anointed by the
Father to be Prophet, Priest and King. He was anointed to be
Prophet, our chief Prophet and Teacher, Who has fully revealed to us
the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption.
    
    That counsel and will is from eternity. It is the counsel of God
concerning the salvation of sinners; concerning the persons and the
way by which they shall be saved. That counsel is kept entirely
hidden from us. The cherubim stared upon the mercy seat that was
above the Ark of the Covenant, as if they would say that it was a
mystery above their understanding that the law could be silenced for
a condemnable people. How much more is this mystery above the
understanding of man's sin-darkened mind. "No man knoweth the Son,
but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son,
and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." That way ordained by
the counsel of God, Christ, the highest Prophet has revealed
completely. He spoke through the prophets who testified of that
redemption. He could say, "I have manifested Thy Name unto the men
which Thou gavest Me out of the world."
    
    He sent His apostles who were guided by the Spirit into all
truth to declare that eternal counsel and to write in the infallible
Word of God all that must be revealed of that counsel for the
salvation of man. He is the Prophet of Whom Moses spoke in Deut.
18:18: "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren,
like unto thee; unto Him ye shall hearken." He is the highest
Prophet to Whom all prophets were subject, the only One who can only
reveal the counsel of God to us and He Himself testifies, "All
things I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." He has
done so from the beginning and will do so to the end. After His
ascension He teaches by His Spirit and by means of the ministers He
has sent. Oh what blessed teachings He gives His people! Never would
man know of God's eternal counsel if Christ did not teach him.
Neither our bringing up, nor our great knowledge of the Bible, nor
our clear conception of the doctrine of salvation can reveal to us
the secret of God's eternal good pleasure. The way of salvation is
and remains a mystery for us. Yea, even after having received grace,
it is only the continuous teaching of Christ that takes away the
covering from the eyes. Never would a soul oppressed by grief and
guilt flee to Jesus, but would rather turn away from Him, if He,
that great Teacher of righteousness had not revealed the way of
salvation to him. Even those led farthest in grace must cry out, "We
see through a mirror darkly." Of the lessons of this Teacher we must
sing,
    
              "Sweeter are Thy words to me
              Than all other good can be."
              
    This chief Prophet is also our only High Priest, "Who by the one
sacrifice of His body, has redeemed us, and makes continual
intercession with the Father for us."
    
    He was also promised as Priest: Thou art a Priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek (Ps. 110:4). He was a very different Priest
than Aaron and his sons were. In Israel only a man from Aaron's
family could be priest. Melchizedek was not a priest because of his
family ties; neither on his father's, nor on his mother's side were
there any priests known. Paul therefore refers to his office when he
states that this Melchizedek was without father, without mother, and
without descent. This statement cannot, of course, refer to
Melchizedek as a man. Paul intends to tell us that Melchizedek was a
priest only by the sovereign pleasure of God that knows no beginning
or ending, an only and eternal priest, and as such a type of the
only Priest, Christ.
    
    It is evident that our Lord sprang out of Jude, out of the royal
tribe, out of which according to Aaron's dispensation no priest
could ever come. Therefore, according to that order, Christ could
not be a priest. Yet He is a priest of a much better order according
to the order of Melchizedek. He is an only and eternal Priest, and
as such He excels above all priests. He brought the sacrifice that
alone could satisfy the Father and that all the priests of the old
Covenant could not bring. He needed not to offer sacrifice for
Himself, for He had no sin; but He offered Himself for His people,
so by that satisfaction they would be acquitted from the judgment of
eternal death. He bore their punishment for them. He rendered
perfect obedience. Thus by one offering, which needs never to be
repeated, He has perfected forever them that are sanctified and has
delivered His people from eternal condemnation and out of their
wretched misery.
    
    The all-sufficiency of that one sacrifice is forever apparent,
also from the intercession with which Christ intercedes before His
Father. In that intercession Christ continually shows His Father the
sacrifice once offered, so that the guilt of His people shall never
come before the judgment seat of God. What a High Priest! No, there
is none other, nor is another necessary. Here is satisfaction for
guilty souls. Not a penny will they ever be able to pay; on the
contrary, they daily increase their debt; but in the sacrifice once
offered is perfect satisfaction, a payment acceptable to God. By
imputation and by the believing acceptance thereof God's children
find peace with God and a free access to the Father. "Who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again,
Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession
for us." This High Priest makes His people free forever.
    
    Moreover, this Priest gives so much comfort in all the
circumstances of the lives of His people. "We have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was
in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."
    
    Hence God's children can come to Him with any trouble, for He
understands their complaint and knows their sorrow, and fathoms
their grief. When they may tell Him their sorrow, He pours the balm
of comfort into the wounds of their soul, lightens their grief and
shall fill their heart and mouth with joy in the everlasting
atonement for their sins, which all is granted to them
notwithstanding all their iniquities. Oh, that God's people would
make more use by faith of that high priestly office.
    
    "Exalted by Thy might from depths of desolation
    They praise fore'er Thy Name, thy justice and salvation."
    
    The glory of the Anointed of the Father now shows forth
especially in His kingly office. He is anointed "to be our eternal
King, Who governs us by His word and Spirit, and Who defends and
preserves us (in the enjoyment of) that salvation He has purchased
for us."
    
    Of that kingly office Christ Himself often spoke here on earth.
To Pilate's question, "Art Thou a King then?" He replied, "Thou
sayest that I am a King. To this end was I born, and for this cause
came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth."
To His disciples He declared: "I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My
Father appointed unto Me." Yea, He spoke of His glory, "The Son of
Man shall sit upon the throne of His glory." (Matthew 19:28) Set as
King upon the holy hill of Zion, He was typified in the theocratic
kingship especially of David and Solomon, and He sits upon His
throne forever. He vanquished all the power of hell. He crushed the
head of Satan, arose a victor over the grave and ascended to heaven
full of glory, where He gathers His church and rules, defends and
preserves it.
    
    To that end all power is given Him in heaven and on earth, and
no man and nothing can resist Him in the execution of His office for
the eternal salvation of His people.
    
    In the time of love He forcibly takes the chosen sinner out of
the palace of the strong man armed, and brings him into His kingdom.
Not one shall bow before Him except by this King Himself, Who
overcomes all opposition; but then it is a most willing surrender.
Christ establishes His kingdom in the soul of His elect and His Word
attains dominion by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus He urges
heart and mind to do His will and to walk in the midst of the paths
of justice. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, He shall
protect and save His Church. He will not give the soul of his turtle
dove unto the multitude of the wicked and forgets not the
congregation of the poor forever. Were that not so, the church would
have been consumed long ago, for the triple-headed enemy does not
cease attacking. However hard satan, the world and sin may rage,
they shall not prevail; for the Lord is a wall of fire round about
His people to whom He has spoken, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome
the world."
    
    This Prophet, Priest and King not only administers His offices
for His people, but He also makes them to be prophets, priests and
kings. Because His own partake of His anointing, they are called
Christians. Thus the instructor teaches us in answer to the
question, "But why art thou called a Christian?" Let us finally
consider this question.
    
    III
    
    Why His people are called by that name.
    
    The instructor asks a personal question here, you must answer
for yourself. What kind of answer shall many give who bear the name
of Christians? Alas, of many we must fear that they have the name of
Christian, but have never become a Christian. "Thou hast a name that
thou livest, and art dead." Consider now only the protestants, and
ask how many bear the name of Christian unworthily and show
themselves enemies of the cross of Christ. They revile His name and
deny His office. But no, ask yourself why you are called a
Christian, and then compare your answer with that of the instructor:
"Because I am a member of Christ by faith, and thus am partaker of
His anointing." A true Christian therefore is a member of Christ.
Formerly the name disciple was used, or men called each other
brothers. But at Antioch Christ's followers were first called
Christians (Acts 11:29).
    
    Probably it was first given to them by the heathens. These
people spoke, walked and lived as Christ had spoken, walked and
lived; they showed that they were His followers; they were
Christians. This nickname given them derisively they took as an
honorary title, given them in the providence of God. Since then
those who believe in Christ are known by that name. Therefore,
Agrippa said to Paul, "Almost thou persuades me to be a Christian."
And Peter wrote, "If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be
ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf."
    
    A true Christian is a living member of Christ. To be a Christian
we must be born again. Who gives that a thought when mentioning that
name? Anyone who is not a heathen, Jew or Mohammedan is called a
Christian. Who else is a Christian, but he who escaped from the city
of Destruction, and persevering in flight came through the strait
gate upon the narrow way to the heavenly Zion. God the Holy Spirit
called them from death to life, ingrafted them in Christ and granted
them true faith by which they exercise living communion with Christ,
so that in Him they bear fruit. Christ lives in the Christian, and
the Christian in Christ. Therefore they are named after Him. They
partake of His anointing.
    
    They are also prophets and priests and kings, because He is the
Prophet, the Priest and the King, and He anointed them with the
Spirit He had received.
    
    Nobody can or may name himself after Jesus.
    
    Jesus is the personal name of the Mediator. He alone is the
Savior and nobody, nobody can ever have any part in the work of
salvation. It is a gross sin of the Jesuits that they appropriated
the name of Jesus to themselves; they take the salvation of sinners
out of His hands to their own eternal destruction. We may call
ourselves after Christ, after His official name, because the Lord
makes His people to partake of His anointing.
    
    And thus they become prophets who confess His Name, priests who
present themselves a living sacrifice of thanksgiving to Him, and
kings who with a free and good conscience fight against sin and
Satan in this life, and afterwards reign eternally with Him over all
creatures.
    
    "By faith I am partaker of His anointing so that I may confess
His name." Confessing includes knowing. As prophets they know the
name of the Lord. "For they shall all know Me, from the least of
them to the greatest of them," saith the Lord. They are taught by
the chief Teacher, and in no college, however much learning can be
obtained there, can anything of the knowledge of God in Christ be
learned. A believer, however much despised by the world and called a
fool, has a higher education than the wise man before whom the world
bows down, but who in haughty pride rejects the Word of God. "The
secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him." They alone shall
know, and shall follow on to know the Lord.
    
    Those that know the Lord shall also confess His name, as the
poet does, "O give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name; make
known His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto
Him; talk ye of all His wondrous works." The Lord also admonishes,
"Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also
before My Father which is in heaven, but whosoever shall deny Me
before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in
heaven." Grace is indeed necessary to fulfill this prophetical
office. Peter denied his Master because of a maid, and many times we
cannot bear to see a sour face for the sake of Christ. We often keep
silence when we should speak, and speak when we should keep silence.
Also among God's children there is so much timidity and fear of each
other. Oh, then to speak when the enemy within says that it is not
true, that God's people will notice it, that it is better to say
nothing, or when our proud self stirs us up and we fear that we do
not speak solely to the honour of our God.
    
    Conquering grace is necessary to give us liberty and to deliver
us from fear of man. Then it seems that the Lord gives His approval
upon the talking of His deeds. To that prophetical office belongs
also a close walk, so that we testify with our actions, which often
speak louder than words. Then, as you readily feel, there must be
something of that priestly sacrificing. Also in the members of
Christ the offices are not to be separated. The prophet is also a
priest who presents himself "a living sacrifice of thankfulness to
God." Now we offer ourselves a living sacrifice of thankfulness when
in true self-denial we honour Him by the grace He gave us, that we
do not seek our own honour, but His honour alone and walk humbly
before Him. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and
a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." Such a sacrifice,
however imperfect it remains in itself, is pleasing to the Lord,
since it is sanctified by the offering of Christ. They who fear the
Lord are also anointed to be kings. In the strength of Christ they
are conquerors of Satan, and sin, and the world. Powerless in
themselves they can do all things through Christ, Who gives them
strength, and with Whom they shall reign forever.
    
    Let us now sing Psalter No. 401: st. 3, 4.
    
    Application
    
    What do you think, beloved, are you who bear the name of
Christian such a Christian? Are you a true Christian, a living
member of Christ? Alas, how many are content with having the name,
and do not worry about the fact! They have been baptized, they had a
good bringing up; perhaps they had converted parents; they never
lived a rough life, and they heard the word gladly. Now they live in
the supposition that all is well with them. There are so many that
were much worse, that disregarded their bringing up and turned to
the world. Yes, there are also such.
    
    They show by their actions that they have a name that they live,
but yet are dead. How we should look on them with pity! May the Lord
prevail over them and open their blind eyes. Do not therefore draw
the conclusion that all is well with you who have never sinned so
grossly. If you are not born of God, you are no true Christian.
Search your soul in the presence of Him Who knows the hearts, see
your lamp shall be put out in eternal darkness, see Christ shall
say, "I have never known you." The almost Christian shall be cast
out forever.
    
    A true Christian is taught by the highest Prophet. The lessons
he receives instill in him true knowledge of God and of self. You
may freely examine yourself whether or not you are a true Christian,
by asking whether you have learned to bemoan your sins before God
and accept the punishment of your iniquity; whether you flee from
sins because they are an affront to God, and your soul began to love
Him because He is perfect; whether you fled from the world in spite
of all opposition of strangers and acquaintances, and your natural
inclination to sin, and you have learned to abhor your own virtue
and righteousness before God, so that not only the gross wickedness,
but also your best works became sin. He who partakes of the
anointing of Christ loses all stays outside of Christ, and must
always go to that fountain of salvation to receive out of His
fulness instruction and cleansing and redemption. Oh, do not doubt
whether Christ shall perfect His work in you to His glory and your
salvation.
    
    Do seek continually to increase in spiritual knowledge. Ask
yourself what advances you have made. What has the Holy Spirit
taught you this year or last year? Let the regression in self urge
you more and more to seek refuge and rest in Christ. His dominion be
over you and give you grace to die to all that is outside of Him,
that you may confess and glorify His Name and present yourself a
living sacrifice to Him. Must God's people not complain that they
live too much for themselves and seek too much their own honour?
That hinders them in their inner life, and weighs upon their
conscience. The King of Zion make them to walk as kings and to tread
upon the mire of the earth. They need have no fear; neither devil,
nor world, nor sin shall prevail over them. The apparent victories
of the world are really its losses and bring the church nearer to
its glory. With an eye upon Him in Whom we are more than conquerors
we may be encouraged to sing, "I shall not die, but live before
Him."
    
    After a little the journey through Mesech will be ended, and you
shall reign with Christ over all creatures. Oh, what an eternal
triumph is prepared for God's people! May Christ administer His
offices in us more and more, and cause us to walk by His power as
prophets, priests and kings. Amen.
    
    
    
    
    
The Glory of Christ

Lord's Day 13


Psalter No. 428 st. 5 & 6
Read John 1:1-14
Psalter No. 243 st. 1-6
Psalter No. 427 st. 3
Psalter No. 199 st. 1, 2,3


Beloved!

    In Psalm 89 David sings of the Covenant of Grace made with
Christ, and in Him as their representative Covenant Head, with all
the elect, in eternity. Before the fall there was the Covenant of
Works, in which covenant Adam represented all his posterity, and by
fulfilling the demand of that covenant he could obtain for them all
eternal life that can never be lost. However, that covenant was
broken by willful disobedience, and no man can ever obtain salvation
through that covenant. After the fall God placed at the east of the
garden of Eden Cherubim and a flaming sword, which turned every way
to keep the way of the tree of life. By the deeds of the law there
shall no man be justified before God. Although God by His immutable
justice may demand of every man perfect obedience to the law which
was embodied in the Covenant of Works, this does not mean that it is
possible to obtain salvation by the Covenant of Works. "Cursed is
every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the
book of the law to do them." All men are, as the seventh Lord's Day
taught us, "perished in Adam."
    
    There is escape from this condemnation in the Covenant of Grace,
of which Christ is the Head, for which He is called in Scripture the
last Adam. Of that covenant we sang, "My covenant made with Him is
sure."
    
    The covenant made with David was a shadow of the covenant which
the Triune God, acting in the Person of the Father, made with Christ
in eternity and in Him with all the elect, although they were not
yet created, were included in the fall by God's decree. In that
covenant they appeared as subjects to condemnation, unable to
fulfill even one of the demands which must be performed, before God
could make a Covenant of Grace with them. All those demands were
required of Christ, their head, and He has promised to fulfill them,
as He has done while here on earth by his active and passive
obedience. The "Covenant of Redemption" is the Covenant of Grace in
eternity, firmly established in the obedience of Christ, to Whom all
the promises of the Covenant are bequeathed. In Him they are yea and
Amen, unto the glory of God.
    
    The fall of Adam did not overtake God by surprise, but happened
according to God's decree. Already in eternity that breach was
healed for the elect in the covenant with Christ. Immediately after
the fall God established the Covenant of Grace with fallen, but
elect man, saying, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou
shalt bruise his heel."
    
    In establishing the Covenant of Grace, not one demand was laid
upon Adam and Eve. Being dead in trespasses and sins, how could they
have fulfilled even one demand? God included them in the Covenant of
Grace in Christ, Who was promised to them as the Seed of the woman
and was revealed to them in His deep humiliation and death, the
bruising of His "heels", and appropriated by faith. It is of this
covenant that the royal psalmist spoke in Psalm 89. Therein lies his
safety and the safety of all God's elect that are included in
Christ, and to whom the benefits of the covenant are bequeathed by
way of a testament. Hence the covenant is often called a testament,
that is unbreakable, since it is of force after the death of the
Testator. Therefore the covenant shall stand fast (vs. 28) and they
who are included in the Covenant of Grace shall certainly inherit
salvation, for the Head of this covenant is not only very man,
without sin, but also true very God: God's own and natural Son, the
Lord and King of His people, Who purchased them with His blood and
delivered them from all the power of the devil. He is therefore
called God's only begotten Son and Lord as we hear from the 13th
Lord's Day of our Heidelberg Catechism:
    
    Lord's Day 13
    
Q. 33: Why is Christ called the only begotten Son of God, since we
    are also the children of God?

A. Because Christ alone is the eternal and natural Son of God; but
    we are children adopted of God, by grace, for his sake.

Q. 34: Wherefore callest thou Him our Lord?

A. Because He has redeemed us, both soul and body, from all our
    sins, not with gold or silver, but with His precious blood, and
    has delivered us from all the power of the devil; and thus has
    made us His own property.
    
    In this Lord's Day the Catechism speaks of the glory of Christ
    
      I. in His divine nature
    
     II. in His saving grace
    
    III. in His liberating authority.
    
    I
    
    In three Lord's Days the Catechism deals with the Person of the
Mediator. First he taught us by His names as the Savior, Who saves
His people from eternal damnation, then as the Anointed of the
Father, Who is a Prophet, a Priest, and a King, and makes His people
partakers of His anointing. In the Lord's Day now before us the
glory of Christ shall shine forth, both in His divine nature as the
only begotten Son of God, and in His saving grace by which He makes
His people to be children of God, and in His redeeming power, by
which He makes those He has redeemed with His blood to be His own
property.
    
    The Catechism discusses the divine nature of the Mediator
because He is called the only begotten Son of God, for in John 1:14
and 18 is written, "And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father. No man has seen God at any time; the
only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He has
declared Him." A bit farther in Chapter 3:16 John testified, "For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life." The Catechism teaches that He is called the "only begotten
Son" because "Christ alone is the eternal and natural Son of God."
He was the eternal Son, whose goings forth have been of old, from
everlasting (Micah 5:2), Who was before He was born of Mary; the
Son, sent in the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4); the natural Son, for
He, and He alone, is begotten of the Father. Only of Him could it be
said, "Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee." By this
everlasting, generating process remaining within the Godhead, the
Son, co-essential with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, is the
only, eternal, and natural Son of God.
    
    How abundantly Scripture testifies that the Lord Jesus is the
Father's own Son. The prophets and apostles vied to declare it. He
who was generated by the Father (Psalm 2) was set up from
everlasting (Prov. 8:23); He is the Word and the Word was in the
beginning with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1); the Firstborn
of every creature (Col. 1:15); Who being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God (Phil. 2:6). Yea, the Father
Himself testified of it. Scarcely Christ had come up from being
baptized when the voice of the excellent glory of God sounded, "This
is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased." Also in the
resurrection, Paul teaches us Christ was declared with power to be
the Son of God (Rom. 1:4), while His works proved it (John 10:37):
"If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not."
    
    He is called Jehovah, which name was never given to any
creature. Jeremiah announces the promised Messiah in Jer. 23:6 as
"the Lord, our righteousness" and Isaiah called His name,
"Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the
Prince of Peace."
    
    He, the Anointed of the Father, the Man Christ Jesus, is from
everlasting, Micah 5:2, and had glory with the Father before the
world was (John 17). He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
ending, which is and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty;
the Omnipresent, Who is at once on earth and in heaven. (John 3:13).
    
    In the doctrine of the Trinity we had already noticed that the
Son is proved to be the true God by the names, properties, works and
honors ascribed to Him. To Him then belongs divine honour as to the
Father (John 5). We are baptized in His name and the congregation is
blessed in His name.
    
    Oh, how they shall be crushed that deny the divine glory and
divinity of Christ.
    
    The Lord, during His sojourn here on earth, did not conceal the
fact that He was the Son of God. He spoke of it in many places. It
could not be seen in Him as He walked upon the earth in the form of
a servant. On the day on which He shall appear, surrounded by His
thousands of angels for the salvation of His own and the destruction
of the wicked, then all shall see Him as the Son of God.
    
    When He was here on earth, He concealed His divine nature behind
the veil of His flesh. No, the natural eye saw no glory in Him. He
wore no halo about His head as the idolatrous Roman Catholics
picture Him. He was like unto His brethren in all things, sin
excepted. It could not be seen that He was the only begotten of the
Father, but He declared it. Again and again He spoke of it in John 5
and 10, "That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the
Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which
sent Him." So evident was His testimony of Himself as the Son of God
that the Jews were offended and wanted to stone Him, John 5:18,
"Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only
had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father,
making Himself equal with God."
    
    But His revelation was also so glorious that Thomas fell down at
His feet, crying out, "My Lord and my God." The same bowing down is
in the soul of all God's children to whom Christ reveals Himself and
to whom He gives faith to know Him. They also heartily agree with
what the instructor teaches that Christ alone is the eternal and
natural Son of God.
    
    Yet this Biblical doctrine has been contested from the earliest
days. The Jews were not the only ones who denied Jesus the honour of
being the eternal Son of God. Arius, the great heretic, who found a
strong adversary in the young Athanasius, wanted to make Christ the
first of the creatures. Although, Mohammed declared that the
Nazarene was great, the Koran names Mohammed himself as the greatest
prophet. The Socinian and the Modernist, each in his own way, offend
the glory of the Mediator of the covenant. A person can esteem Jesus
as a good man, but not as God, over all blessed forever.
    
    The truth of the eternal Sonship of Christ cannot be defended
sharp enough against any attack. On that truth the Mediator, and
with Him the salvation of the elect stand or fall. If He is not the
Son of God and is not co-essential with the Father and with the Holy
Ghost, He cannot be the Mediator. On the contrary, in the
acknowledgment of Him as the Son of God lies the salvation of our
souls. When Christ asked His disciples, "Whom say ye that I am?"
Peter answered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Thereupon Christ pronounced him blessed, "Blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee, but my
Father which is in heaven." Moreover, that confession was laid for
all ages as the rock of the church of God in the words, misused by
the Catholic church, "And I say also unto Thee that thou art Peter,
and upon this rock (that is the confession that I am the Christ, the
Son of God) I will build my church, and the gates as hell shall not
prevail against it."
    
    Oh, that the wiles of Satan, or the theories of unbelief, or the
wickedness of our hearts may never weaken that confession in the
church of God, for truly if this weakens, the foundations of the
church are undermined.
    
    If Jesus is no more than a good, virtuous, benevolent, exemplary
man, He is no Surety; in Him is no atonement for sin, no conquering
of death, no enervating of sin, no crushing of Satan. Then all was
lost, eternally lost for all of Adam's posterity, for there would be
no Savior for them. I pray you, stand immovably firm upon the
testimony given us of Christ; "He is the only begotten Son of God."
    
    More still, He reveals Himself in the hearts of His people, so
that they may know Him by faith, as that knowledge is eternal life
and leads to honoring Him as the only begotten Son of God.
    
    Hence it is the indescribable glory of the Mediator that He is
the only begotten Son of the Father; that God's only and natural Son
took upon Himself our flesh and blood. Some of that glory He laid
upon His own, who for His sake by grace are adopted of God.
    
    Let us in the second place tarry here as we consider the glory
of Christ
    
    II
    
in His saving grace.
    
    The Catechism first shows us the contrast between the Sonship of
the Mediator and the sonship of the believers. He is the eternal,
natural Son of God; in that sense they are not sons. He is the only,
eternally begotten Son, they are adopted children. He is the true
God, they are creatures, however richly they may be blessed.
Although one day they shall be like Him, glorified in soul and body
in heaven, they shall never be like Him according to His divine
nature. He is and remains the only, eternal and natural Son of God;
they are children adopted only by grace.
    
    By that adoption they are brought into communion with God, for
their sonship refers to the state of believers.
    
    By nature we are not children of God; we destroyed that
relationship by sin. Since man ate of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, man denied and discredited day after day that he was
what God once testified of Adam, "the son of God." (Luke 3: 38). We
have torn ourselves loose from the heart of God, and became children
of wrath. Thus we are born, because of our relation of Adam, and
thus we live, unless we are born again and become adopted children
of God, for the adoption occurs in regeneration.
    
    Already in eternity God knew and foreordained them in His
unchangeable counsel to be His children and heirs. Their adoption
takes place in time, in the appointed hour of His good pleasure, in
which the Lord makes them partakers of His divine nature, restores
His image in them, grafts them into Christ, acknowledges and accepts
them as His children. That is the act of quickening, of
regeneration: the declaration of God that this is a chosen vessel,
accompanied by an actual, entire renewing of the person. Of all
those thus regenerated, John writes, "Beloved, now we are the sons
of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be; but we know
that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see
Him as He is."
    
    Now they are so; formerly they were not. As long as they lived
in the state of nature they were children of wrath. Since He caused
them to pass from death to life, He adopted them to be His children.
    
    We must hold fast that in the regeneration, God adopts His elect
to be His children, although they are far from being conscious of
this benefit by faith immediately. They who deny what God wrought in
regeneration, rob God's children of their comfort; they overthrow
the firm foundation of hope and say that the sonship consists in the
exercises of faith, in a certain growth, in the exercises of the
soul, instead of in the perfect work of God, glorified already in
the drawing of the sinner. As we must shrink from comforting a soul
on the basis of a few emotions, so we must fear to drive a soul to a
step in spiritual life without acknowledging what God had done
before. Those that are born again are children of God, they are born
of God.
    
    Still, those born again are often so very far from acknowledging
in faith what God has granted their. It is a second grace when we
may believe the salvation God granted us. That second grace is
lacking so often. The doubt concerning what God has done is often
very great; especially because of the small amount of spiritual
knowledge. Faith is often too little to accept the unspeakable
benefits; it seems much, much too great to be called a child of God
even if the soul cannot deny having the true marks of a new life
yea, even though it has learned by faith to know Christ as the way
to life, and has acquired an acquittal by the application of His
righteousness, even then the fatherly love of God, glorified in the
sonship of His people, can be so hidden. Therefore many who have
been justified before the bar of conscience, fall back to building
upon themselves so much, although they are not robbed of the
certainty of their reconciliation with God, the free access to the
Father in Christ is lacking, and the humble, happy life of children
is often far from them. How necessary it is for them to lose all
their precious, certain experiences to obtain all their life in
Christ and the adoption of children by Him, in the blessed assurance
of the Holy Spirit that causes them to say: "Abba, Father." Although
the adoption of children rests upon justification, yet it is
distinct from it.
    
    All this refers to our acknowledging by faith, not the benefit
itself that God has given, namely, the adoption of children. If
grace may break out, doubts shall be conquered, and in the assurance
of the deeds of God we shall declare, "The Spirit beareth witness
with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Even if a child
of God did not attain to that clear consciousness, or to that
establishment in his state, to which (although all aspire according
to the nature of that new life) only a few attain, even then it
would be no hindrance in gaining entrance among the children of God
before the throne. Shall all of them be assured of their faith
before they die? I believe Scripture says they shall not. Faith
shall fall away and be changed to sight, and salvation is never
attached to the assurance of faith. The decisive act for each person
lies in that which God glorifies in our hearts adopting us as His
children according to His eternal counsel.
    
    This adoption is by grace, by free grace alone. Nothing of the
creature co-operation; on man's side is nothing but guilt. God's
grace is glorified in sinners, since the debt of God's children is
paid by Christ. This increases the wonder of adoption, that causes
the sinner to glory in God alone. The fact that makes this ministry
even greater is the sovereignty of grace.
    
    Where grace falls, it falls freely. Oh, in all eternity God's
people shall sing of it. "By grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God."
    
    Finally, that adoption is for Christ's sake. He, the Son of God,
became the Lamb that engaged His heart to approach unto God, and by
virtue of the Covenant of Peace stood before God as slain before the
foundation of the world. In Him the believers of the Old Testament
were adopted as children, and for His sake they entered eternal rest
before He cried out on Golgotha, "It is finished." God cannot lie
and the closing of the covenant between the Father and Christ forms
the foundation upon which the Father in eternity embraced the elect
as His children and heirs, and by which it was made possible that
those elect would receive His love in the adoption to children now.
Thus Paul testifies in Ephesians 1:5, 6, 7: "Having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His
grace, wherein He has made us accepted in the Beloved, in Whom we
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of His grace." That acceptance was fully
accomplished by Christ, when in our flesh and blood He became like
unto us in all things, sin excepted. He was not ashamed to call His
disciples His brethren, because they were adopted for His sake as
children of God. He, the Son, the Only-begotten of the Father,
obtained the salvation by which Adam's sons and daughters can be
called children of God. Here lies the foundation of our salvation.
Let us take good heed. Other foundation can no man lay than that is
laid, which is Jesus Christ. No self-righteousness, no feeling
emotions, exercises of faith, no experiences, however valuable and
great, can be used instead of the "for His sake" of which the
Catechism speaks here. Not for anything that is in us, not even for
something given us by grace; but only for Christ's sake the elect,
who by nature also lie dead in sin, become children of God. That
truth is sharp, very sharp for our nature, and for our souls that
always try to have a foundation outside of Christ. If it is to be
for Christ's sake only, all that we have outside of Him for a
foundation must be taken away, and our soul must rest only on Him.
There is, therefore, no greater privilege than to obtain salvation
in Christ as a sinner entirely emptied of self, as a child of Adam,
guilty and totally corrupt, justified and sanctified by Him, and
only for His sake to know that adoption by faith. Oh, how everything
must be taken away from us. No, we did not know that we were so
rich, and increased with goods, too rich to place our hope in Christ
alone, but the Lord made us understand it. Our great debt did not
hinder it, for the righteousness of Christ is abundant; our
abominable sins were not in the way, for Christ is the fountain, the
eternally springing fountain to wash them away. We were too rich, we
had too much, we were too good to be saved by Christ, by Him alone.
    
    However sharp this "for His sake" is, there is no firmer ground
of comfort. For those who have learned to know themselves as guilty
of death, as entirely lost and as doubters, there is no doubt. It is
for Christ's sake alone that they are adopted as children, and the
work that He began, He shall complete for His own sake. To that end
He paid the debt, delivered them from the power of the devil, and
made His own property.
    
    Therefore, He is called "our Lord", a name that shows us His
glory, as we also hear out of the second question of this Lord's
Day, that the glory of Christ shows clearly
    
    III
    
in His liberating authority.
    
    Of the only begotten Son of God, for whose sake the elect are
adopted to be children of God, the church confesses: "He is our
Lord." The instructor declares that we call Him our Lord "because He
has redeemed us, both soul and body, from all our sins, not with
gold or silver, but with His precious blood, and has delivered us
from all the power of the devil; and thus made us His own property."
The name "our Lord" rests then upon the purchasing and delivering by
Christ, upon the government that is on His shoulder. He is the
Adonai, the Lord.
    
    Not always does the name Lord, so often given to Christ in
Scripture, mean the same thing. When Jeremiah calls Him "the Lord
(Jehovah) our righteousness," the prophet speaks of Him as the Is
true God. Jehovah is God's highest Name, which he gives to no other,
and since Christ is the true God, He bears the name Jehovah,
translated as Lord in our Bible. However Lord's Day 13 does not
speak of the Name Jehovah. According to our confession the
instructor here speaks of Christ as the Anointed King, that redeems
and appropriates His people. "He was and is and remains God over all
blessed forever"; but He, the Son of God is anointed by the Father;
He is become the Mediator. As Mediator He has received power from
the Father, all power in heaven and in earth, so that every knee
shall bow before Him and no person or thing shall prevail against
Him. That power is for the casting down of all His and His people's
enemies and for the good of the elect. Because the Lord is the
Almighty King He delivers those He has purchased with His blood out
of the power of Satan. That blood He has shed; in that blood lay the
perfect satisfaction His Father demanded for sin. All else beside
that was not enough to redeem them from Satan. Gold and silver, in
however great amounts they might be weighed, could not satisfy the
demand of the Father. Heaven and earth fell short; angel nor man had
advice. Only the blood of the Lamb of God could redeem from sin.
God's justice must be satisfied, sin to whom we had subjected
ourselves must be robbed of its power. Out of that righteous
judgment Christ bought us with body and soul.
    
    Into the house of that strong man armed, Christ went to spoil
his goods. The devil receives no payment; he is not the rightful
owner. We are the property of the devil because of sin. He subjected
man to himself unlawfully; he took man as his prey. Now the Lord
Adonai comes to get His possession. The Father had given them to
Him; He had rendered perfect satisfaction for them, and now He
demands their release from the claws of Satan. Satan's head is
bruised and in the resurrection of Christ the church is declared to
be His property, that He took to heaven and placed at the right hand
of His Father. "Made us His own property", that is the song of
victory of the church redeemed by Christ. No danger, however great
can harm it; no enemy, however crafty can effect its downfall; it is
eternally the property of Christ, and "the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it." Oh, had we but words to say what a comfort and
strength there is in the fact that Christ is "our Lord"! To all
eternity the innumerable multitudes of them whom He purchased with
His blood shall honour Him as "Lord" and sing the praises of Him
that sitteth upon the throne and of the Lamb.
    
    Those who shall enter have learned to know Him here and by grace
to bow before Him. We do not, and cannot and will not bow before Him
by nature. The natural man is his own lord and master, and
constantly repeats "I want to be as God", independent, bowing under
no man. Truly that man, too, shall bow; but to bow through the
conquering power of Christ, as also the devils shall be cast down by
Him; oh, how terrible that will be! They shall gnash their teeth and
curse God night and day to all eternity.
    
    It is true, Satan goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he
may destroy, and as an angel of light to deceive, if it were
possible, even the elect; but the Lord shall protect His own.
Although Satan had desired to sift Peter as wheat, the Lord had
prayed for him that his faith fail not. Against the buffeting of an
angel of Satan, for the removal of which Paul had prayed three
times, the grace of God was sufficient. It still happens that
children of God under the dreadful assaults of Satan are so troubled
and so full of fear that they can find no rest to kneel in prayer
before God. But the Lord will deliver them, and then it will be seen
that they are only waging war against a conquered enemy. They are
the Lord's property, and that people may sing as we do now
    
             Psalter No. 427, st. 3.
    
    Application
    
    Does not that great advantage of the children of God stir you to
jealousy? By nature they are like all of us, children of wrath
because of their deep fall in Adam; they, too, have corrupted their
way before the Lord. But by grace they are saved and have received
the adoption of children for Christ's sake. He removed the curse
from the law for totally lost sinners, He bruised Satan's head for
their sake, and He stands among you to invite by His Word sinners,
whether old or young, whether pious or profane, to be saved. To
everyone that hears the gospel Christ is presented as the only and
perfect Savior. You are not being sent to perdition with a Roman
Catholic or Pelagian false doctrine. Your conscience must admit that
the Mediator is the Son of God and that He has merited the adoption
for His people and has become their Lord. Testify before Him who
knows our hearts and tries our reins what the result of the
preaching has been. With what are your thoughts occupied? What are
the exercises of your soul? Does the sweet invitation of the gospel
ever bring you to your closet? Do you bow yourself before the Lord
before going to church, asking Him to use His Word for your
salvation? How many scarcely listen to the sermon, and as they leave
their conversation is about everything except the Word that was
preached. Do not come with the counter argument, that God the Holy
Spirit alone can make the Word serve to our salvation, although that
is perfectly true and all our thinking and praying and meditating
cannot bring us a step closer to heaven, we must one day give an
account of the Word preached to us. What excuse can you bring then
before God's bar? For you it was possible to be saved, it was the
acceptable time, in the day of salvation. Dance happily through the
world; silence your conscience, be concerned day by day and far into
the night about all things pertaining to time; but know that soon
God shall judge you and you shall through all eternity hear the
accusation, "Ye would not." God's Son has merited the great
salvation for Adam's sons and daughters, for sinners who deserve
cursing and damnation. Oh, I pray you, forsake the world and its
pleasures. Parents, speak to your children when they are little and
as they grow older about the things pertaining to their salvation;
keep them under the old tried doctrine. Come faithfully to church
and to Catechism, that the empty places will not testify against
you. It might please the Lord to use the means He has ordained for
your salvation. He rides prosperously upon His Word and the arrows
of His bow are sharp in the hearts of the King's enemies, drawing
them out of the might and the claws of Satan, and making them bow in
the dust before Him as poor sinners. Oh, how happy you would be if
you would bow before Him in truth, and He would become your Lord. Do
you know what the first thing is that we learn to understand? It is
our misery, which so many would omit, saying, "You must just
believe." They are blind leaders of the blind. How shall anyone
believe in the Son of God, and acknowledge Him as his Lord, who
never learned to know his state of misery? In eternity the people
that have been misled shall fly in the face of such preachers and
say, "You are not free of my blood. You never told me that I
deceived myself with a false faith and a vain hope."
    
    Ask God's people how they learned to know themselves when the
Lord claimed them as His own. They saw themselves as lost. There was
no escape! They cried day and night. They were of all men the most
miserable and they could not believe that the Son of God had
acquired them and that they were adopted to be children of God. The
comforts of God saved them from the snares of despair, otherwise
they would have perished. But the Lord shall "spare the poor and
needy, and shall save the soul of the needy. He shall redeem their
soul from deceit and violence; and precious shall their blood be in
His sight." Then do not despair, but seek the place of that sinner
who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears, and wiped them with the
hair of her head, and kissed His feet and anointed them with the
ointment. Let the Son of God be your God in the acknowledgment of
faith. Not all those who are drawn out of the state of sin are
assured of their sonship, although they have become children by
regenerating grace. Yet they all seek after that assurance, and do
not rest until they like the dove of Noah are taken into the ark.
May the Lord cause us to lose our life so that the Son of God may
become our all, and we by the assurance of the Holy Ghost may know
the secret of being adopted as children of God by grace for Christ's
sake. Seek to increase in grace and the Lord grant us a humble,
childlike walk. May the Lord also grant us His Spirit, that we may
more and more despise the world and hate sin. He withdraws not His
hand, no, His right hand from us, but shows Himself to be our Lord,
having all power in heaven and on earth.
    
    May it be your constant comfort that He has made His elect
church to be His own, which having been purchased by His precious
blood, shall never be forsaken by Him. In all your needs and
miseries cry out with the poet, "Have respect unto the covenant; for
the dark places of the earth are full of habitations of cruelty. O
let not the oppressed return ashamed; let the poor and needy praise
Thy name." The church, delivered from the power of the devil shall
one day triumph over all the enemies, and "the upright shall have
dominion over them in the morning."
    
    I cannot close before showing God's dear children the difference
between justification and adoption; the first is a judicial act, the
second a fatherly act. Some make these seem identical, but God's
people cannot live by drawing conclusions, as though having been
justified, they are now also adopted. The Lord grant His people that
they may know the difference, so that they do not rest upon their
justification, but may understand the Father's good pleasure in them
by faith, that He not only relieved them from their guilt and
punishment, but also restored them into His communion. Christ is not
only risen for their justification, but has also ascended to heaven,
bringing His church back into the communion with His Father. May it
be granted to us by faith to embrace that adoption in the assurance
of the Holy Spirit so that we may experience, "As many as received
Him to them He gave power to become the Sons of God." The Lord cause
His people to walk in childlike fear. Amen.





The Incarnation of the Word

Lord's Day 14


Song of Zacharias st. 1
Read Isaiah 11
Psalter No. 241 st. 3, 4, 5
Psalter No. 261 st. 2
Psalter No. 166 st. 1, 2, 3


Beloved!

    The prophecies concerning the coming of Christ and His work of
redemption are many. To testify of these things God has sometimes
even used people who had no part in that redemption, yea were
enemies of it. Not only did the prophets called by God speak with
much joy and with exercises of faith by divine revelation of the
coming, the suffering, the death and the victory of the Mediator,
but besides them both Balaam and Caiaphas spoke of Him. They were
both instruments in God's hand.
    
    Balsam, the soothsayer, is the one bribed by Balak the king of
Moab, who in spite of God's warning went up to curse Israel. Even
when His ass testified against him and an angel with a drawn sword
put a stop to his going, Balaam continued, greedy for the honour and
presents offered him by Balak. Three times Balaam blessed the people
that had come from Egypt, and in that blessing he prophesied of the
coming of Christ saying, "There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and
a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of
Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth." Notwithstanding this
clear announcement of Zion's eternal King, Balaam taught Balak to
cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel by having a
lascivious feast for Baalpeor before their eyes. The people ate of
the sacrifices of the Moabites and bowed to their idols, so that the
wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel. The Lord commanded the
heads of the people to be hanged, and Phinehas thrust his javelin
through a man of Israel and a Midianitish woman in a tent. "So the
plague was stayed from the children of Israel." How terrible the
abominable counsel of Balaam was in which he showed his hatred
against God and His people, is evident from the rebuke given to the
Church of Pergamos which was in many respects very faithful, "But I
have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that
hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling
block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto
idols, and to commit fornication." There is no doubt as to the
enmity of Balaam, and yet he prophesied about Christ.
    
    It was no different with Caiaphas who condemned the Lord Jesus
to death as a blasphemer, and had before that said in the Jewish
council, "Ye consider not that it is expedient for us that one man
should die for the people, and the whole nation perish not." Indeed,
Christ has died in the place of His people, so that people might be
saved. Hence these were remarkable words of Caiaphas, words that had
a significance which this enemy of the Nazarene did not understand.
However, "this spake he not of himself; but being high priest that
year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not
for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one
the children of God that were scattered abroad." (John 11:50-52)
    
    Thus even enemies had to testify of the coming and the glory of
the promised Messiah to their own eternal condemnation. How much
more glorious then was the prophecy of them who were given the faith
to expect Jesus, as Isaiah, for instance, in the chapter that was
read to you. The rod from the stem of Jesse, and the branch out of
his roots is Christ, born of the poor and despised virgin Mary, who
was of the lineage of David, and whose name was written in the
records of Bethlehem; so that it would be confirmed from age to age
that the Savior born in Bethlehem is the true, promised Messiah,
conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary. Therefore,
based upon God's Word the church has always confessed this, and
accordingly the fourteenth Lord's Day for which I now ask your
attention speaks of the incarnation of the Son of God.
    
    Lord's Day 14
    
Q. 35: What is the meaning of these words "He was conceived by the
    Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary"?

A. That God's eternal Son, who is, and continueth true and eternal
    God, took upon him the very nature of man, of the flesh and
    blood of the Virgin Mary, by the operation of the Holy Ghost;
    that he might also be the true seed of David, like unto his
    brethren in all things, sin excepted.

Q. 36: What profit does thou receive by Christ's holy conception and
    nativity?

A. That he is our Mediator; and with His innocence and perfect
    holiness, covers in the sight of God, my sins, wherein I was
    conceived and brought forth.
    
    Thus we must discuss the incarnation of the Word, and concerning
this the instructor teaches us:
    
     I. of what the incarnation consists, and
    
    II. what its purpose was.
    
    In this fourteenth Lord's Day we have come to the discussion of
the state of Christ's humiliation. According to the correct speech
of our fathers, two matters draw our attention: in the first place
the humiliation of Christ itself; but then also that this
humiliation placed Christ in the state of guilt. The description of
that humiliation as a state shows that this deep humiliation came
upon Christ according to God's righteousness, for a state refers to
one's relation to the law. Only then shall we understand for our
salvation anything of the humiliation of Christ if by faith we see
Him in our place, laden with our sins in order to give full
satisfaction to God's justice. If we do not come to the right
understanding of the Lord's substitutionary work, the deep
significance of His humiliation remains hidden for us, even though,
as the daughters of Jerusalem followed Christ weeping. Such sympathy
with the deeply humbled Mediator shows only lack of self-knowledge
and takes the crown from the head of Him who proceeds to the death
of the cross, not as a martyr, but as a King to satisfy the justice
of God and to reconcile the elect to God. He is not to be pitied,
not when He lies in the manger, nor when He must flee from Herod,
nor when His enemies seek to ensnare Him, nor when He is nailed to
the cross. You must look with pity upon him who lives in sin, who
lies condemnable before God, who is on his way to eternal perdition,
and keeps his eyes closed for his misery. "Weep not for Me, but weep
for yourselves" is His message. All our sympathy for the humiliated,
scorned, and tortured Christ leaves us blind for His substitutionary
work, if we never became guilty before God and never saw by faith
the humiliated Substitute as a guilty one before God's justice
because of our sin, so that we could be acquitted of guilt and
punishment. Then the humiliation of Christ will be precious to us
and the majesty of the anointed High Priest will shine through, who
was wounded for our sins and bruised for our iniquities.
    
    If we lack the true realization of the state of humiliation of
the Mediator, we may give our soul no rest. We would be building on
a sandy foundation, which one day will fall away. Alas, the
knowledge of Christ is very scarce, even among God's children. They
rest too much in experiences of the soul instead of seeking to
penetrate into what Christ has become for His people. What did the
disciples know of the substitutionary work of the Lord, although
they enjoyed His words and miracles? They cried, "Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God," but when it came to the point,
they became offended at His suffering and death. They did not
understand that He had to pour out His soul unto death, for their
sake. There are still many among God's people that are like them.
That is detrimental to their soul and gives much power to self-love,
egoism, unbelief and therefore to the dishonor of Christ. This
troubles the life of the soul which revives when tasting of the
fruit, but cannot live without the Tree of Life. Now the instructor
will bring us deeper into the humiliation of Christ, by explaining
that humiliation step by step, following the order of the Apostle's
Creed. The Lord grant that by this instruction we may learn of the
precious substitutionary bowing of Christ under our sins and
punishment, so that we might rightly honour Him as Savior, singing
here by faith that which shall eternally be the song of joy of God's
people, "Thou has redeemed us to God by Thy blood."
    
    Lord's Day 14 speaks to us of the incarnation of the Word, of
His conception by the Holy Ghost, and birth of the Virgin Mary, and
the catechism gives this explanation of it: "That God's eternal Son,
who is and continueth true and eternal God, took upon Him the very
nature of man, of the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary, by the
operation of the Holy Ghost; that He might also be the true seed of
David, like unto His brethren in all things, sin excepted." That
incarnation is therefore the great mystery of godliness: "God was
manifest in the flesh." The eternal Son of God is become man, was
found in fashion as a man; behind the veil of His human nature He
hid His divinity. No one who saw or heard Him as He lay in the
manger, or in His sojourning on earth in the midst of the huge
multitudes that hung on His lips and in whose sight He performed
signs and wonders, could see His divinity in anything. That was due
to man's total blindness, for He showed Himself to be God and said
it plainly. The Son of God as Mediator wanted to be so humbled that
only glimpses of His divinity showed through the veil of His human
nature. He was more than all people. He was, and is and remains very
and eternal God. "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given."
He is a Child according to His human nature and the Son according to
His divine nature. He was before all men, and therefore He, the
Eternal One, could testify, "Before Abraham was, I am." He appeared
to Abraham in the plains of Mamre as he sat in the tent door in the
heat of the day with two angels in a human body, made of dust but
not born, to foretell the birth of Isaac in a year. The Lord also
appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.
To Joshua He appeared as the Captain of the host of the Lord, Who
had a drawn sword in His hand and fought for Israel against Jericho.
To mention no more, Isaiah saw His glory and spoke of Him (John
12:41) when the prophet saw Him sitting upon a throne, high and
lifted up.
    
    Do not these revelations of the Mediator hundreds of years
before His incarnation clearly prove that the Lord existed before He
was born in Bethlehem? Who was He? The eternal Son of God, of Whom
Micah prophesied, "Whose goings forth have been from of old, from
everlasting," of Whom John writes, "In the beginning was the Word,
(that is God the Son, the Second Person in the Divine essence) and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the
beginning with God (hence before a particle of dust existed). All
things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that
was made." Of the Word, that is, I emphasize, of the Second Person
Who is true and eternal God with the Father and the Holy Ghost, John
writes, "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." Paul wrote in
Gal. 4, "But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His
Son, made of a woman, made under the law." To be sent forth, He must
be and He was and remained, the Son of God, sent by His Father into
the world according to the familiar words in Rom. 8:32, "He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all (that is
according to verses 29 and 30 for the elect).
    
    He is the only begotten of the Father: "For God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." He is the
firstborn (not as the godless Arius teaches, the first-created, but
the first-born) of every creature from eternity to eternity,
begotten by the Father. He who was received of the Holy Ghost, born
of the virgin Mary is God's own, natural Son. That is the great,
incomprehensible wonder, that God's own Son, Who is and remains very
God, has taken upon Him the very nature of man so that the elect of
the Father may be reconciled by God to God. To whom then it is given
to know Him by true faith, he acknowledges Him as the Son of God and
falls down to worship Him. Not according to His human nature, but as
God He must receive all honour: "That all men should honour the Son,
even as they honour the Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father which has sent him." (John 5:23). However
much God's people may be exercised as to whether He is their
Mediator, since He has revealed Himself to them as the only Savior,
and has opened to them a way of salvation, the knowledge of Him as
God's own Son is born in their heart, and when the power of unbelief
is broken, they cry out with Thomas, "My Lord and My God." Who shall
ever be able to declare the glory of this one Mediator between God
and men? He is and continues true and eternal God.
    
    When He took upon Himself our human nature He did not lay aside
His divinity. He who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of Mary,
is and continues very God. How could God cease being God? He is the
everlasting Father. He is God from eternity to eternity, and so the
instructor's explanation is entirely true, "That God's eternal Son,
who is and continueth true and eternal God, took upon Him the very
nature of man." "The Word was made flesh."
    
    All of us, and that includes the elect, we, all Adam's
posterity, are conceived and born in sin. We come into the world in
original sin, and because of that sin we are condemnable before God.
Not only actual sin makes us worthy of eternal death; even if we did
neither good nor evil, eternal perdition would rest upon us for the
sin in which we are conceived and born. That sin must also be
forgiven, and covered before God. To that end Christ was conceived
and born, but with a holy conception and a perfectly sinless birth.
Thus His holiness covers the sin of His people and cleanses this
fountain of iniquity. They learn to know that deep fall by
discovering grace and that makes them cry out with David,
    
         "Against Thee only have I sinned
         Done evil in Thy sight
         Lord, in Thy judgment Thou art just,
         And in Thy sentence right.
         Behold in evil I was formed,
         And I was born in sin."
    
    There, in conception and birth, lies the root of the corruption
which cannot be entirely erased in this life, but continues to
strive against God's children until they have finished their course.
    
    Now do notice by faith, people of God, that here is the fountain
for cleansing and reconciliation. Oh, when all hope of improving
ourselves falls away, when there is no more expectation because of
our incurable misery, then there is redemption for them in Christ
Who had a holy conception and birth. Come, then, unto Him, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and He will give you rest. When the
bitter fountain of original sins brings forth bitterness, lo, there
is in that sad experience Christ the Physician with the balm of
Gilead. When God's people complain because of indwelling sin, when
it seems as though evil will have the upper hand, when they seem to
be in the bond of iniquity, when they ask themselves where the fruit
is of that new life that God has wrought in them, when their heart
is sad because of all this and their mouth is closed, behold, the
Mediator is there, conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of Mary. He
traveled their way to stop this fountain of sin, to cleanse their
soul, and to take away their guilt and unrighteousness. In Him they
are lovely in the eyes of the Father. He himself says, "My delight
is in her." Black they are in themselves but comely in Christ. Bring
your complaints about your needs and miseries to Him, people of God.
Seek Him constantly as your Mediator Who covers your sins before
God, so that you may rejoice in the riches of His grace, that by far
exceeds your sins.
    
    The Son of God did not bring His human nature out of heaven but
took it upon Himself of the Virgin Mary who was made fruitful by the
Holy Spirit, so that He would be outside of the imputation of Adam's
sin, and would be that holy thing which was born of her. How clearly
Luke writes that He was the matured fruit of Mary. "Her days were
accomplished that she should be delivered." He took upon Himself
soul and body, the true human nature, born of a virgin, and thus
belonging to our human race so that the sins of His people could be
imputed to Him. For Adam's sin is according to God's righteous
judgment only imputed to his posterity. Christ therefore must belong
to that posterity, and yet have no sin Himself. He had no sin, no
original sin, no guilt, nor pollution, because He was conceived of
the Holy Ghost, hence not because Mary was holy as the Roman
Catholic Church teaches. How could Mary be sinless, having been born
as all others? She, too, was brought forth under the curse and wrath
of God, an unclean one who cannot bring out a clean one in a natural
way. She herself called Christ her Savior; she is saved only by Him,
Whom she could bring forth as that holy thing, because the Holy
Ghost came upon her and the power of the Highest overshadowed her,
"Therefore," spoke the angel Gabriel to her, "therefore" (hence not
because she was sinless) "also that holy thing which shall be born
of thee shall be called the Son of God."
    
    Out of her then the Lord Jesus was born. The opinion of the
Anabaptists that Christ brought His human nature with Him out of
heaven, and that that nature merely passed through Mary as water
passes through a pipe, denies His mediatorial work. If it were thus,
Christ would not have belonged to our human race; He had not become
one of us, but, howbeit with an entirely perfect new human nature,
He had stood outside of our race. Then He could never have borne our
guilt and sin and delivered us from them. To do this He must be man
taken from men, belong to Adam's posterity, be the Son of David.
This He became by being born of Mary. The whole Scripture testifies
of it. He is the Seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15), the Seed of Abraham
(Gen. 12:3), the Shiloh out of Judah (Gen. 49:10), the Rod of David
(Isa. 11:1).
    
    Although as we already learned in the sixth Lord's Day, the Lord
took upon Himself an impersonal human nature, He still was a very
and righteous man. He, the Second Person of the Divine Essence,
could not sin, not in our human nature either. That nature was
infallible. Sin is not committed by an impersonal nature but by the
person, and this person was God of God, light of light, very God of
very God. For that reason alone the Mediator could not sin. The
Father did not entrust His elect church to a Mediator of Whom He was
not perfectly sure that He would finish the work of redemption
entrusted to Him. He was born without sin, and it was also
impossible for Him to sin. Even in the birth of the Mediator it was
immovably sure that He would merit salvation for His people.
Therefore the angels could bring the tidings to the shepherds that
unto them was born that day the Savior, and therefore they could
sing their heavenly anthem; the shepherds could worship Him by faith
and Simon could cry out, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart
in peace, according to Thy Word, for my eyes have seen Thy
salvation." Yes, every one of God's people who by faith may see and
embrace that Emmanuel born in Bethlehem, sees in Him the perfect
Savior, Who before the foundation of the world was counted worthy to
take the Book and to loose the seals thereof for the salvation of
all those who were given Him by the Father. Salvation is not built
upon loose sand.
    
    However impossible it seemed, humanly speaking, Mary had to go
to Bethlehem. Even the decree of Caesar Augustus served to fulfill
the prophecy which had spoken of the city of David, "Out of thee
shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose
goings forth have been of old, from everlasting." Even though He was
the fully matured fruit of Mary and hence a man out of men, Adam's
sin was not imputed to Him. The messenger from heaven announced to
Mary, "That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God."
    
    Holy, entirely perfect, without any sin was He who was born in
Bethlehem's manger; for He was not born by the will of man, but by
the Holy Spirit. On earth He had no father. The Jews erred when they
thought Joseph was His father. If that were so, He would have had a
fallen human nature, He would have had to pay for Himself, and could
never pay for another. But Himself being without sin, He could
redeem His people eternally.
    
    Hence all emphasis falls upon these two points: Christ is man
out of men, and yet He stands apart from Adam's sin since He was
conceived by the Holy Ghost. Thus He is like unto us in all things,
sin excepted. He took upon Him our flesh and blood. He has a soul
and body as we, yea this being "like unto His brethren in all
things" went so far that He even subjected Himself to the results of
sin, so that He being tempted in all things might be a merciful High
Priest, able to succor His people in all things. His people have no
grief of soul or body which Christ has not borne in principle. What
a comfort this yields for the church of God! Christ is the true Seed
of David, according to the prophecies which were fulfilled in Him,
however impossible this may have seemed. He became like unto His
brethren in all things, sin excepted. Let all who have learned to
hope in God's Word take courage! However dark the way may be,
however impossible the way to the fulfillment of that which God has
promised may seem, the Lord shall confirm His Word and in all His
deeds He works to that end. What seems to us to be retrogression
often serves the fulfillment, as was very evident at the Lord's
birth. Oh, that our soul might rest more in God's Word and trust Him
to fulfill it. He guarantees His own work and will save His church.
Unto God the Lord belong the issues even from death. In Him is
deliverance from the state of death. Both natures are united in the
one person of the Son of God. There are not two mediators, one of
which is God and one of which is man, but one Mediator, the Son of
God Who has both natures, as the 5th and 6th Lord's Days clearly
explain. Therefore Christ, though His suffering and His stay in the
grave were of short duration, could bring in everlasting
righteousness.
    
    From the earliest days such an incarnation of the Son of God was
denied and contested. The Docetae spoke of His human nature as a
mere appearance; but if the Son of God had taken only an apparent
body, His death also would only be an apparent death and would never
pay for the sins of His people. Nestorius separated the natures of
Christ, and Eutyches confounded the two natures. Already in 431,
Synod condemned the former and the Council of Chalcedony declared in
opposition to both that the union of the two natures of Christ was
without confusion, without change, without division and without
separation. God remained God and man remained man, every nature kept
its own characteristics, and even in death the two natures were not
separated from each other. He, the Son of God sacrificed Himself
willingly to His Father out of eternal love for the glorification of
God's mercy in saving the elect.
    
    All God's promises are fulfilled in Him, all the types were
accomplished in Him. He brought the true sacrifice in both soul and
body, and has become the Redeemer, the Kinsman, the Brother of His
people. Only thus, as He who was born of Mary is the only Savior,
outside of Whom we cannot seek or find salvation. How necessary it
is then that we may be found in Him, not having our righteousness,
which is of the law, but the righteousness which is of God by faith.
How could anyone stand before the bar of God's justice without Him?
Our righteousness are as filthy rags, but the Son of God became man,
conceived in and born of Mary, so that He might stand in the place
of His people and pay for their original and actual sins. God
reproves His people of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, but
then all outside of Christ truly becomes insufficient to stand
before God. If then their eyes only may be opened to see that only
Mediator Who is God and man, they find in Him all that is necessary
to atone for their original and actual sin.
    
    We shall notice this now in the second place as we consider
    
    II
    
the purpose of the incarnation.
    
    Question 36 speaks of this as it mentions the profit God's
people receive by the holy conception and nativity of Christ. The
profit consists in this: "that He is our Mediator; and with His
innocence and perfect holiness, covers in the sight of God, my sins
wherein I was conceived and brought forth."
    
    A mediator is one who stands between two parties to reconcile
them to each other. Christ is the Mediator who stepped between an
angry God and a condemnable sinner. He has reconciled those two
parties with each other. To that end the Son of God became man, as
the Catechism says so plainly for those who are comprehended in
Christ; that He with His innocence and perfect holiness, covers in
the sight of God, my sins wherein I was conceived and brought forth.
    
    Thus the incarnate Word is the true Mediator, able to reconcile
to God the sinner who was lost in Adam, but elect in Christ, and to
restore him in communion with God. Taking upon Himself our human
nature, can in itself be considered to belong to qualifying Him as
Mediator. God cannot be increased nor decreased, but the Mediator
was humiliated and later exalted again, and in order to be the
Mediator the Son of God had to take upon Himself a human nature. But
why was His conception and nativity the first step of His
humiliation? Because of His humble birth. He was conceived in a
poor, humble virgin, living in Nazareth, a despised city. There was
no place for His birth in the inn. He was brought forth in a stable,
wound in clothes and laid in a manger. The circumstances could not
be worse. A more lowly entrance into the world was unthinkable. He,
the eternal God, for Whom no earthly palace was beautiful enough,
became man in a stable. The world could and would not receive Him.
"No room for them in the inn", for them, for Joseph and Mary, for
Christ. It is still thus. The whole world says, "No room", no room
for Him in our hearts. We do not want to receive Him. By nature we
have room for everything, but not for the only Savior. He prepares a
place for Himself, and comes in deepest humility to save even the
chief of sinners. Lost sinners are saved in Him, a people given Him
by the Father, conceived and born in sin.
    
    The third Lord's Day has spoken of original sin. Suffice it to
mention here only that all men because of Adam's fall are conceived
and born in sin. We come into this world under the guilt of death,
corrupt and entirely leprous. Christ had to remove from His people
not only the actual sins which we commit with thoughts, words, and
actions, but also the original sin. That He did by His conception
and birth of Mary. With His innocence and perfect holiness He has
covered those original sins in the sight of God. It is this that
makes His conception by the Holy Ghost and His birth of the Virgin
Mary precious for His people by faith. God's children do not find
the remission of their sins in Him only because God's Word tells us
that the Lord Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the
Virgin Mary, but according to that Word the Holy Spirit discovers to
them their deep fall in Adam, and reveals to them the great mystery
of godliness. It is God's common way with His people to open their
eyes first for their actual sins. He showed the Samaritan woman her
sinful life. He arrested Saul on the way to Damascus by calling,
"Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou Me?" He wounds the soul, purchased
by His blood with an arrow from His Word, and makes them see by the
light of His omniscience their whole life of sin and iniquities,
even though they have never openly served the world. That discovery
makes them bow as guilty to all God's commandments, and fills them
with a godly sorrow which works repentance to salvation, not to be
repented of. But then He goes deeper into their soul. He cuts off
their hope that they cherish to save themselves, and to seek their
salvation by diligently seeking to keep the law. Even their longings
after Christ give them no firm foundation. The breach between them
and God was made in Paradise. They are conceived and born in sin.
Never, never is there any possibility of taking away those sins,
even if they kept all the commandments, which is utterly impossible.
Furthermore, their conception and birth is the filthy fountain by
which all their works are evil. Here the Lord cuts off all hope of
salvation. He who ever was led into the depth of the fall, has
learned that God does a short work on earth. Oh, then Christ is
revealed in the riches of His grace. He was conceived and born, had
come into the world as the matured fruit of Mary's womb, but
conceived by the Holy Ghost so that with His innocence and perfect
holiness He could cover the sins of His people. Yes, He has covered
them and they shall nevermore be uncovered before the by of God's
judgment. What a firm foundation of reconciliation lies then in the
conception and birth of Christ out of Mary. Should we not sing of it
from Psalter No. 261, St. 2.
         
         "Truth and mercy toward His people
         He has ever kept in mind;
         And His full and free salvation
         He has shown to all mankind.
         Sing, O earth, sing to Jehovah,
         Praises to Jehovah sing,
         With the swelling notes of music
         Shout before the Lord, the King."
    
    Application
    
    How very necessary it is for us all to hold fast to that which
God has revealed in His Word concerning the redemption of Adam's
fallen children. That redemption is so great that it could be
brought about only by God's own Son in our human nature. Hence they
that deny the Godhead of Christ, and His true incarnation out of
Mary, or set up Mary as a holy virgin mother who was herself without
sin, minimize the justice of God, and the honour of Christ and the
salvation of God's elect. Turn your back to them all, and hold fast
to that which the Catechism teaches us so clearly about the
incarnation of the Word.
    
    Simon now sang of the new-born Emmanuel, "This child is set for
the fall and rising again of many in Israel." To what end is the
coming of the Son of God in our flesh for us? If we die in our sins,
He will be our fall. Oh, my unconverted fellow-traveler to eternity,
does it not affect you? Will that which is necessary for our eternal
peace never weigh the heaviest with us? Play a bit in your youth, it
is soon past; have your illusions, young men and young ladies, so
many expectations are in vain, and become bitter disappointments;
work and worry, parents, for this life and review the way that lies
behind you and has gone by as chaff; all of you, ask yourself what
this life has been for you; a life without God and without Christ.
Soon will come the hour of death, and what then? Children, ask the
Lord to convert you; seek, young men and young ladies, your
salvation in Him Who left His heavenly throne and became like unto
us, sin excepted. Make haste, young and old, for your life. May God
bind the warnings to your heart, and sanctify them to your eternal
welfare before it is too late. Oh, what will it be to notice soon
upon your deathbed, that it is too late forever, and that the day of
salvation has passed. I can only proclaim it to you, but may the
Lord use His Word to show you your state of misery and to reveal to
your soul Him Who as God and man is the only way of salvation.
    
    He was conceived of the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary
to cover the sins of His people before the face of God. Oh, people
who have been made to realize your enormous debt, may you cast your
eyes upon Him. On your side there is no hope for deliverance. Do not
keep your heart away from Christ; do not build each other up on a
foundation within yourself. May the Lord show you more and more your
lost state, and cause you to know yourself condemnable before Him
because of your fall in Adam. May everything become insufficient for
you except the only Mediator who took upon Himself our flesh and is
become man out of man, like unto His brethren in all things, sin
excepted. He bowed down so low that He became poor to make poor
people rich. No, your sins are not too great, your iniquities are
not too many. In Christ there is an eternal fulness of righteousness
to cover all your guilt, and to wash your black hearts white. Let
the longings of our souls go out then to Him. He bears the only name
given under heaven to men whereby they may be saved. May we thirst
after Him as a hart after the water brooks. As the Lord causes you
to know yourself as entirely miserable and corrupt, that your soul
may then flee more and more to the fountain that is opened for the
house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Ask continuously
that the Holy Spirit may discover to you the state of your misery;
the Lord grant you to know by experience your conception and birth
in sin and iniquity.
    
    Alas, how much we seek to save our lives without Him Who was
conceived and born of Mary. How little we hear of the discovering
work among God's people. We live, and seek to save our lives. We
should often sigh, "Awake, O north wind; and come thou south; blow
upon my garden." Then its spices may flow out. Let the sharp,
cutting north wind blow through our heart. Then we shall lose our
life. Let God's people who have found their life in Christ testify
how they lost all hope, and were pushed off from all their
foundations when they learned to know themselves as having been
conceived and born in sin. Then the Incarnate Word became their only
and complete Mediator, Who covered their sins before God. Oh, do
seek to win Christ, to know Him in the state of His humiliation,
coming to stand in our place to be the only and complete Savior.
Praise His name, people of God, and let your rejoicing be in Him Who
in a cattle stall took upon Himself our human nature, and still was,
and remains and always will be the Son of God. Let all His saints
praise Him as God's own and only-begotten Son is worthy to be
praised. May He glorify Himself in us and comfort us according to
the riches of His grace, that we may rest in Him, and enjoy the
peace that passes all understanding. Amen.






Christ's Mediatorial Suffering

Lord's Day 15


Psalter No. 184 st. 1, 2, 3
Read Hosea 2
Psalter No. 243 st. 10, 11, 12
Psalter No. 278 st. 4
Psalter No. 47 st. 3, 4


Beloved!
    
    In the 89th Psalm Ethan the Ezrahite sings both of the glory and
of the deep humiliation of the anointed favorite of the Lord. David
was chosen by God in the place of Saul to be king of Israel and his
seed shall be established forever and his throne to all generations.
"Therefore the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord, Thy
faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints." No enemy shall
stand before the servant of the Lord. They shall all bow down to
Him, for the Lord rules the raging of the sea, "When the waves
thereof rise Thou stillest them. Thou hast broken Ahab in pieces, as
one that is slain; Thou hast scattered thine enemies with Thy strong
arm." Saul went in his own strength, and sought his own honour; he
was a king but did not know himself as the servant of the Lord. How
very different was David, who followed the Lord, obeyed His voice,
and gave Him the glory of His victories. With a perfect heart, He
walked before the Lord. Notwithstanding His gross sins, he was set
as an example to all kings and praised above all others. The Lord
was his strength and he glories in Him, saying, "Thou hast a mighty
arm; strong is Thy hand, and high is Thy right hand. Justice and
judgment are the habitation of Thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go
before Thy face."
    
    Yet the Lord was angry with David. He was cast off and abhorred.
God has been wrath with His anointed. Although God's covenant shall
remain firm with him, Ethan complains, "Thou hast made void the
covenant of Thy servant, Thou hast profaned his crown by casting it
to the ground." What? voided God's covenant? Has the Lord changed?
That would contradict His emphatic statement, "I am the Lord, I
change not." The salvation of God's elect would waver if the Lord
did not remain faithful and immutable. For that very reason, because
the Lord does not change, "therefore ye sons of Jacob are not
consumed." No, God does not change and His covenant remains firm for
ever and ever. But the deep humiliation into which David came
because of his sin, the heavy strokes that fell on him and his
people, because they had forsaken His law, caused God's servant to
complain as he did. It seemed to him as though the Lord had made His
covenant void, and had profaned the crown by casting it to the
ground. One day the earthly crown of David shall be cast away, one
day carnal Israel shall fall away, and yet the Lord remains faithful
and His covenant sure.
    
    David was but a type, a type of the One anointed by the Father
before the foundation of the world. He shall reign forever and His
throne shall be as the sun before God. But He shall acquire the rule
in a most fearful contest with all the powers of hell, of the world
and of sin. He shall be humbled, not for His own sin, for He never
had or committed any sin, but for the sins of His people. He shall
win and reign for the redemption of all those that are given Him by
the Father; the people that bow under His scepter are a blessed
people; the people that know the joyful sound. "They shall walk, O
Lord, in the light of Thy countenance. In Thy Name shall they
rejoice all the day; and in Thy righteousness shall they be
exalted." In Him the covenant is confirmed; the testament is of
force after the death of the testator. He is the Anointed of the
Father, chosen in eternity, qualified in time to sit upon His throne
as conqueror. To that end He had to be cast down into the deepest
humiliation, into the depths of death; for God's justice must be
satisfied and the head of Satan must be bruised, for "justice and
judgment are the habitation of His throne." He took our flesh and
blood upon Himself to suffer and die, yea, to submit Himself to the
most terrible power of death on the cross, after judicial
condemnation. By His suffering and death He has taken away the curse
of His people, and the church of God shall sing to Him the doxology
at the close of this Psalm: "Blessed be the Lord for ever more. Amen
and Amen."
    
    That is what the fifteenth Lord's Day of the Heidelberg
Catechism explains to us according to the Word of God. Let us then
give close attention to that Lord's Day.
    
    Lord's Day 15
    
Q. 37: What dost thou understand by the words, "He suffered"?

A. That He, all the time that He lived on earth, but especially at
    the end of His life, sustained in body and soul, the wrath of
    God against the sins of all mankind; that so by His passion, as
    the only propitiatory sacrifice, He might redeem our body and
    soul from everlasting damnation, and obtain for us the favour
    of God, righteousness and eternal life.

Q. 38: Why did He suffer under Pontius Pilate, as judge?

A. That He, being innocent, and yet condemned by a temporal judge
    might thereby free us from the severe judgment of God to which
    we were exposed.

Q. 39: Is there anything more in His being crucified, than if He had
    died some other death?

A. Yes (there is); for thereby I am assured, that He took on Him the
    curse which lay upon me; for the death of the cross was
    accursed of God.

    This Lord's Day then speaks of mediatorial suffering, and
explains
    
    1. What is to be understood by this suffering,
    
    2. Why this suffering occurred under Pontius Pilate,
    
    3. What the crucifixion assures.
    
    Our Catechism today does not only speak of the suffering of
Christ in itself, but Lord's Day 15 testifies also of the only
comfort God's people obtain out of this suffering by faith.
    
    For the instructor asks, "What dost thou understand by the words
"He suffered"? The word "understand" here means the knowledge of
faith as the original Latin text clearly shows. With firm hand the
instructor keeps to his purpose, that of teaching the purchased
church of God concerning the only comfort in life and death May the
Lord cause us to understand something of the rich fountain of
comfort which lies in the passion of the Lord as we follow the
instructor in the description of the grievous suffering, the
judicial condemnation, and the cursed death of the cross. How
necessary it is to build up the congregation on the rock of pure
doctrine which includes the passion and death of the Mediator. Mere
assent to that doctrine does not give us the comfort which God's
people receive through Christ. To obtain that comfort in truth it is
necessary that atonement be wrought for us by Christ, that it be
imputed to us by God and that we embrace it by faith. That is just
what the Catechism explains to us over and over, and that is why
this creed speaks so comfortably to the heart of the spiritual
Jerusalem. First then we are told what is meant by the mediatorial
suffering of the Lord. This suffering means no less than "that He
all the time that He lived on earth, but especially at the end of
His life, sustained in body and soul, the wrath of God against the
sins of all mankind; that so by His passion, as the only
propitiatory sacrifice, He might redeem our body and soul from
everlasting damnation, and obtain for us the favour of God,
righteousness and eternal life."
    
    We have shown you before that He Who suffered was and remained
also in and after His incarnation, very God; that He assumed the
human nature to His divine Person, and that the suffering which He
suffered alone in body and soul, has such an eternal value only
because it was suffered by Him, the eternal Son of God. I am merely
repeating the testimony of the apostle, Acts 20:28, that God has
purchased His church with His own blood, as also the emphatic words
of John concerning the blood of the Son, I John 1:7, "The blood of
Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." No creature could
merit this righteousness for fallen man. The Son of God, God
Himself, alone could do so. This was shown to Daniel in a very
imposing manner, "Understand the matter and consider the vision.
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city,
to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make
reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting
righteousness." (Dan. 9:24). That is of the greatest importance that
the Mediator was not only a true, good, sinless man but that the Son
of God, God blessed forever, suffered and died in our human nature;
that the sinner, as we have discussed in the previous Lord's Day,
was reconciled to God by God. This makes Christ precious to every
one that believes. Faith not only makes the soul understand what
Christ has suffered, but also, and this magnifies the wonder of
redemption, Who suffered, namely God's only and natural Son. The
soul desires a true knowledge of Him that it may know Him in the
power of His death, Him "Who is fairer than the children of men.
Grace is poured into His lips." The instructor is now treating His
mediatorial suffering. What He suffered He subjected Himself to, out
of eternal love to the glorification of God's attributes, according
to the Father's pleasure and the salvation of His people. He
suffered in the place of His own, namely, "the wrath of God against
the sins of all mankind."
    
    No, the Catechism does not teach that the blessed Substitute and
Mediator bore the wrath of God for all mankind. Christ has not died
for all mankind. That is taught by those who hold the doctrine of
universal redemption. There is no more abominable doctrine than
this. It denies the election of certain persons, known to God, and
also the Covenant of Redemption in which the elect alone are given
to Christ, for whom He engaged His heart to approach unto God.
Moreover, the doctrine of universal redemption counts the blood of
Christ an unholy thing. Would He have shed His blood for Cain, for
Esau, for Judas? Has Christ then suffered in vain? This abominable
doctrine also fails to recognize the work of the Holy Spirit, since
the Holy Spirit quickens the dead soul, plants in the soul the true
faith that unites with Christ, and thus makes the soul a partaker of
that salvation. To mention no more, the doctrine of universal
redemption denies man's state of death because it teaches that
Christ brought about for all men the possibility of salvation, and
that it depends on man's free will whether he will enter the open
door of heaven or whether he will refrain.
    
    Truly, there is no more abominable doctrine than the one which
teaches that Jesus bore the wrath of God for all men. Hence the
Catechism does not teach this at all when it states that the Son of
God bore the wrath of God against the sins of all mankind. That
wrath is indivisible; it cannot be split into a part that rests upon
the elect, and a part that falls on the head of the wicked. God's
wrath is His holy, indivisible abhorrence of and anger against sin,
and especially against the sin of all mankind. That indivisible full
wrath of God is poured upon Christ. He bore it all, in order that He
might remove it for His elect. That holy, dreadful, eternal wrath
was, in the exercise of God's perfect righteousness, poured upon the
object of His Father's love. The Mediator bore the full extent of
that wrath; the sword has awaked against the Man who is God's Fellow
and has smitten that shepherd. Therefore there is such a fulness of
righteousness in Christ that it cannot be emptied. Even if all
Adam's posterity with all their abominable sins came to that
fountain, it would not be diminished by one drop. Christ's
righteousness, as our fathers held in opposition to the
Remonstrants, is sufficient for the sins of the entire human race.
Oh, so often God's children are assaulted with fear that their sins
are too great or too manifold; so often the devil points to this or
that sin committed, as if there would be no more possibility to be
saved. But the instructor, for the comfort of those who are bowed
down with the burden of their iniquities, points to the fulness of
Christ's righteousness. He has borne the indivisible wrath of God
against the sins of the whole human race. Never are the sins too
many to be forgiven, even though they are as scarlet and as crimson,
the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanses from all sins.
    
    However, Christ did not die for all people, He did not take away
the wrath of God for all people. The limitation does not lie in
sustaining the full wrath of God, but in the good pleasure of the
Father, Who has limited the atonement to the elect. "For this was
the sovereign counsel, and most gracious will and purpose of God the
Father, that the quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious
death of His Son should extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon
them alone the gift of justifying faith." (Canons of Dart, Chap. 2
art. 8). Hence there is no atonement for all people, but still God's
justice is so completely satisfied that no sin is too great to be
forgiven. That gives us so much liberty to preach Christ and Him
crucified to each and everyone whoever he may be, and on the other
hand it opens the riches of grace for condemnable sinners. If only
faith may know Christ as the way of life, salvation for lost sinners
becomes so easy. Never can we be sharp enough in cutting off all
hope of salvation in Adam, but neither can anyone speak too freely
of salvation in Christ. If all the grains of sand were tongues,
their voices would be insufficient to sing the praises of Him Who
sustained the wrath of God against the sins of all mankind.
    
    The instructor continues by saying that Christ sustained that
wrath in body and soul. Rome prates that it is unworthy to speak of
the soul-suffering of the Mediator. But of Him it is not only said
that He bore the sins of His people in His own body on the tree, but
also that He Himself cried out, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful,
even unto death." With soul and body we have sinned and in both soul
and body Christ had to sustain the wrath of God to pacify that wrath
and to open the sovereign love and mercy of God. Only thus is there
salvation in Him for lost sinners. God's people know something of
the burning of the wrath of God, from which there is no escape. They
would flee, flee from God, but there is no way out. They are subject
to condemnation. But Christ placed Himself in their stead, and in
Him they find an escape, an escape for them who come trembling as a
bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria. God's
people learn to understand that sin arouses God's wrath; every sin
makes us subject to the sentence of death, both as to body and soul.
For all those sins there is forgiveness in Him Who bore the full
wrath of God in body and soul. True conviction by the Holy Spirit
drives us out to Christ, and the lack of that conviction causes us
to seek our life outside of Christ. "He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him". Hence how
necessary it is to learn to know ourselves as condemnable sinners
before God, both in soul and body, so that the suffering of Christ
in soul and body might work our redemption by faith.
    
    Finally, there is the question, "How long has the Mediator
sustained that wrath?" "All the time that He lived on earth," says
the instructor. Hence, from the manger to His cross; in His humble
birth; in His circumcision on the eighth day; in His flight to
Egypt; in His sojourn among the Jews, during which He vexed His soul
more than Lot in Sodom; in bearing the enmity and disdain of Israel;
in the betrayal of Judah; in the denial of Peter; in all His life,
but especially near the end of His life. We think of the suffering
of His soul in Gethsemane, when His sweat became as great drops of
blood; of the inexpressible suffering on the cross, of His death
when with a loud voice He cried, "Father, into Thy hands I commend
my spirit." In the days of His flesh, from His birth to His death He
bore the burden of the wrath of God. God's people are purchased at,
O, such a great price, not with corruptible things, silver or gold,
but with the precious blood of the Son of God. Moreover, in this
suffering, all the time He lived on earth is a fountain of comfort
for God's people, that He has been tempted in all things yet without
sin so that He could help them in all things. He is the fountain
opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
They are the ransomed of the Lord upon whom the Lord will not be
wrath nor will He rebuke them. For Zion is redeemed with judgment.
It was the delight of the Father to pour out God's wrath upon
Christ.
    
    We have already stated in refuting the Socinians who teach that
Christ in sustaining the full wrath of God must have become the
object of that wrath, that He was and remained His beloved Son, of
whom the Father Himself twice proclaimed, "This is My beloved Son in
Whom I am well pleased." This testimony the Father gave of Him in
the state of His humiliation, and thus He unlocked the
incomprehensible mystery of salvation that in Christ's bearing the
full, undivided, and eternal wrath of God, the Father took holy
delight. Oh, who would not sink away here in adoration. The Father
elected His church in eternity in order that He through the depths
of the fall in Adam might be perfectly glorified in mercy to her
eternal salvation. Mercy could only be glorified in maintaining and
executing the demand of justice, which could be done in no other way
than that the only-begotten Son of God had to bear God's wrath
against sin. In this lay the delight of the Father, glorying in the
divine attributes so that the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
the hand of Christ.
    
    The church of God lies in the heart of the Father from eternity.
and the love wherewith He loved her, and loves her unchangeably is
so great that He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him for her
unto death, yea, to the death of the cross and poured God's wrath
which rested upon her over Him. Thus He made known the riches of His
glory to the vessels of mercy, which He had store prepared unto
glory. He who by faith may learn something (for who can fathom it?)
of the delight of the Father in the pouring out of His wrath upon
His beloved Son, must lose himself in adoration and amazement. Faith
appropriates Christ, but also leads God's people into the good
pleasure of the Father. The sovereign love of God fills them and
causes them to embrace Jesus as their Mediator, and to have
communion with the Father. Oh, that Abba, Father, that dear Father,
Who caused Thy only begotten Son to pass under that eternal wrath to
glorify Thy justice, so that Thy mercy might be glorified in my soul
and I might be made a vessel to honour.
    
    My beloved, I feel myself too poor in words to express the
secret of the Lord that is with them that fear Him, but the people
that by the ministration of the Holy Spirit are deemed worthy to
learn to know the wonders of the salvation of lost children of Adam
because of God's sovereign good pleasure, and, negating self
entirely, find their foundation in a triune God, shall understand
better than it can be expressed in words, "It is the Father's good
pleasure to give you the kingdom." That good pleasure was glorified
in maintaining God's justice when Christ bore and silenced the full
wrath of God. I will praise Thee forever because Thou hast done it.
Therefore the Lord Jesus had to be condemned to death judicially.
    The instructor speaks of this judicial condemnation when, in the
second place, he explains
    
    II
    
why this suffering took place under Pontius Pilate.
    
    Pontius Pilate was the temporal judge. He was a man of the world
who neither knew nor feared God, but he was the official judge. The
Romans administered justice since they had subjugated Israel.
Neither Annas, nor Caiaphas could condemn a man to death. If they
had that power they would not have turned to Pilate. The Roman
governor administered justice and to him the Jews dragged Jesus so
that this judge could sentence Him. Even before this the Jews had
sought to kill Jesus, when they wanted to cast Him down headlong
from the brow of the hill, and wanted to stone Him. Yea, Herod
sought to kill Him as a young child in Bethlehem. But He was not to
die as an unconscious babe, nor in an insurrection. He had to be
condemned to death by a judicial sentence, by the sentence of a
judge who administered the highest, that is the Roman law. However
much Pilate perverted justice, yet his sentence was a judicial
sentence in which God's judgment was passed over Christ, Who stood
before the Judge of heaven and earth in the place of His people. No,
Christ was not condemned as a martyr, nor, as the Socinians teach,
merely as an example for men to follow, but as one who was guilty of
death, to pay for the sins of His people and to redeem Zion with
judgment.
    
    That people also by nature were sentenced by God's judgment, and
subject to condemnation, but convicted by the Holy Spirit they are
summoned before the judgment seat of God to give an account of their
deeds. If the Lord leads them through deeper ways, and places them
before His bar, they not only lose all hope they had gleaned from
their experience of the love of God and the redemption which is in
Christ, but, laden with all their original and actual sin, they
stand utterly condemned before God. Here they have no other
expectation than to be sentenced to eternal death. Notice that in
the justification before the bar of conscience, God cuts His people
off from everything. To that bar they do not come robed with all
that God has wrought in them and with all the promises received, but
only as condemnable sinners in Adam. He who has never lost his life,
has never experienced the justification of faith in the confirmation
of the Holy Spirit. Therefore the wonder of their acquittal is so
inexpressibly great, that it is given in Christ, in Him alone, Who
was judicially condemned to death. In Him His chosen church is
acquitted and that acquittal is imputed to them judicially with the
divine sentence. They do not go of themselves to the Father with the
accepted righteousness of Christ, but the Father Who has accepted
the righteousness of Christ, acquits them and grants them a right to
eternal life, of which the Holy Spirit assures them by testifying
that God shall no more be wrath with them, nor rebuke them.
    
    Although innocent, Christ was condemned by Pontius Pilate the
temporal judge, in order that He might deliver His people from the
just judgment of God to which they were subject. His innocence was
not only shown when while He was standing before the Sanhedrin, the
great Jewish Counsel (no two witnesses could be found who agreed in
their accusation), but especially when He stood before Pilate, who
repeatedly declared, "I find no fault in this man." Even Judas had
to cry out, "I have betrayed innocent blood." Also the converted
thief testified of His innocence, saying, "Dost not thou fear God,
seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for
we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done
nothing amiss." And the centurion glorified God, saying, "Certainly
this was a righteous man." He the righteous, was nailed to the cross
and has borne the wrath of God to deliver His guilty people from the
judgment of eternal death and to restore them into God's favour and
communion. What a clear evidence of this was given to us when at
Jesus' death the veil was rent from top to bottom. That veil
separated the holy place from the holy of holies into which nobody
might ever glance. Even when the high priest once a year went into
the holy of holies, no priest might be in the holy place and the
high priest had to close the veil behind him.
    
    Now behold when Christ died, the veil was rent from the top to
the bottom. It did not tear because it was old. The rent came from
above. God tore the veil. The way to the holy of holies where God
has His throne of grace has been opened because Christ being
innocent, but condemned by the temporal judge, has satisfied the
justice of God and has delivered His people from the judgment of
eternal death. He was declared guilty in their place, He bore their
guilt and sin, He became Surety for them with the Father, and had
taken upon Himself in eternity to bear their punishment and satisfy
justice. In Him Zion shall be redeemed with judgment. God's people
have deserved death, but receive everlasting life. This is true for
all those who have been taken out of the state of death and placed
in the state of life, but it is a second grace to receive the
assurance thereof, and to obtain the firm foundation that Christ
took upon Him the curse which lay upon them. In the twenty-third
Lord's Day we hope to discuss this matter some more, but notice that
in Christ, God's people are judicially acquitted, and this acquittal
of sin takes place in their soul by a judicial sentence.
    
    Let us in the third place consider
    
    III
    
the benefit the crucifixion assures us.
    
    The crucifixion was a Roman punishment. Israel did not crucify
people alive. It did happen that the dead body of one who had
committed an abominable crime and was executed, was hanged on a
tree. By that crucifixion the curse was pronounced upon the
condemned person, as Moses spoke in Deut. 21:23, "For he that is
hanged is accursed of God." Therefore the dead might not remain all
night upon the tree. Before night the dead body had to be removed
from the cross so that the curse of the crucified one should not
remain upon the whole people. Now Christ was crucified, having
become a curse for His people (Gal. 3:13). Already we have heard
that He had to be sent to His death by a judicial sentence; moreover
He had to die the death of the cross, the accursed death, to remove
the curse of the law to which by nature we are subject, from His
people. For cursed is every one that continueth not in all things
that are written in the book of the law to do them. That curse rests
also upon God's elect, and only by His crucifixion has God taken
away that curse. Oh, that gives God's people such distress, when
they see themselves under the curse of the law. Flattering words do
not help. The soul must be delivered by disarming the law of its
curse, and by reconciling the sinner to God. To that end Christ died
on the cross, and in His eternal love He humbled Himself to the
death of the cross. He has reconciled enemies to God, removed the
curse from accursed ones. He is the Savior because He has satisfied
the justice of God perfectly. "For what the law could not do in that
it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh;
that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
    
    Moreover, crucifixion was a painful death. Death raged against
Christ with all its power. I need not give you a minute description
of the crucifixion to convince you of the terrible pains of such a
death. The living body, already scourged, was nailed to the cross.
Did not Christ complain in the Psalms, "They pierced My hands and My
feet." Resting upon a piece of wood fastened to the cross which
increased the pain, and hanging in the hot eastern sun, the
crucified person died very slowly with terrible fevers. To hasten
their death before night fell, their bones were broken, and since
they had forfeited an honorable burial, their remains were hidden
under the ground of Golgotha. It was that cursed, painful death the
Lord Jesus died, except that His bones were not broken. He gave His
life freely and He was with the rich in His death, as we shall hear
in the next Lord's Day. He bore the sorrows of His people, and in
His pains of soul and body He bore the full wrath of God. He has,
says Isaiah, "borne our griefs." O precious Redeemer! He has borne
all our griefs, all griefs in life and death, however great they may
be; He has borne them all. Yea, He has suffered even more than His
people shall ever suffer so that He can comfort and redeem them. If
by faith they may look upon His suffering and death, they may sing
in their greatest distress,
    
         "He will sustain and hold me fast,
         And give me strength to bear."
    
    The crucifixion was also an ignominious death. The one crucified
hung naked upon the cross, an object of mockery, a castaway on
earth, unworthy of heaven. Into that ignominy the Lord Jesus was
willing to descend for those given Him by the Father, who as a group
of poor, despised sinners lay cast out in the open field, polluted
in their blood. In His crucifixion Christ took away their shame to
crown them with honour and glory. Through Him they have become a
holy nation, a peculiar people, to show forth the praises of Him who
purchased them with His blood. In the world they are a despised
group. It is Zion whom no man seeketh after. Scorn and contempt,
disdain and rejection is the portion of God's chosen ones here on
earth. This caused Paul to cry out, "I am crucified unto the world,"
that is, in the eyes of the world I am as a crucified one, utterly
condemned. With the apostle, God's people and servants experience
the same contempt. On the other hand they despise the world, the
world is crucified unto them, that is, as a crucified one. The more
they are filled with the love of God in Christ, the more they
despise the world with all that which charms the natural man. The
cursed, painful and ignominious death of the Lord has removed the
curse, the pain and the ignominy from His people, restored them into
God's favour and communion, and granted an opening for the Father's
unchanging love, of which we now sing, Psalter No. 278, st. 4.
    
         "Unchanging is the love of God
         From age to age the same,
         Displayed to all who do His will
         And reverence His Name."
    
    Application
    
    Let us now apply to ourselves the instruction we have
considered. We have already remarked that the suffering of Christ
was substitutionary. He subjected Himself to the judicial sentence
of crucifixion only in the stead of the elect, whose Surety He had
become. Let us despise with all our heart the doctrine of universal
redemption of which we have spoken. The church sinks away with that
abominable doctrine. In these days this doctrine not only openly,
but also secretly is working its way in. Beloved, hold fast that
Christ did not die for all men, and that for our salvation it is
absolutely necessary to be grafted into Him by the Holy Spirit, and
thus by faith be made a partaker of the fruit of His suffering and
of His judicial sentence to the death of the cross. For all men are
conceived in sin and born as children of wrath. Without the
regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit they are neither able nor
willing to return to God, to reform the depravity of their nature,
nor to dispose themselves to reformation (Canons of Dort. Chap. III
& IV, art. 3). We must be born again. God bind upon our hearts the
necessity to be reconciled with Him in Christ. No man can be saved
by the broken covenant of works. Oh, do set your heart upon the
unadulterated truth; consider God's people a happy people, love
them.
    
    Especially in young people this is often lacking, and many are
cold in respect to their eternal welfare. A superficial confession
seems to be enough for many, and especially the doctrine that the
promises are for all people, causes many to rest in a fancied faith,
by which they appropriate these promises. I pray you, do not deceive
yourselves. The Lord bind you to His ordinances, and bless His Word
to lead you to a discovery of your totally lost state, so that you
will be driven to seek refuge in Him Who subjected Himself to the
cursed death on the cross in order to save condemnable sinners and
to deliver them from the curse.
    
    God's people learn to know this by experience. God's work does
not go on without us. Let the little ones in grace testify how the
Lord prevailed over them and all hope of being saved fell away.
Would they be able to rest in their orthodox conception of the true
doctrine? Certainly not. Should we build them up in their experience
of misery, and of the comforts they received? Is it not necessary to
show them that they cannot build upon these things? Oh, do hear what
Jesus suffered. In body and soul He bore the full wrath of God. In
Him alone can we attain peace with God by faith. Let me then,
sorrowing souls, direct you to Him. May you seek to know Him as your
Sin-bearer. Many never have stood before God's bar as an accursed
one, but acquitted for the sake of Christ, Who became a curse for
them. Whence is that lack, notwithstanding the fact that they have
seen all their salvation in Christ? They lack the cutting off of
their life. People of God, the Lord will not forsake His work. He
fulfills the desire of your heart to know God reconciled in the
judicial condemnation of your Surety. Oh, when their soul was
acquitted, how they sank away in the wonder that Christ had placed
Himself in their place before the judgment seat of His Father and
they for His sake were freed from guilt and punishment, and received
a right to everlasting life. Have you then not cried out, "I will
praise Thee forever, for Thou hast done it." They have more gladness
in their heart than when the wicked's corn and wine are increased.
The Lord make you a partaker of that joy. Not only is God's wrath
appeased, but the Father's good pleasure is shown to them, the
delight of God in the saving of His people in Christ.
    
    Oh, people of God, do seek with real desire to know the great
mystery that lies in God's beloved Son's bearing His wrath, so that
you may be brought back to the heart of God from which you have
withdrawn yourselves in Adam. I would urge you to do so in order
that God may be glorified and your soul find rest and peace. If
grief and suffering is your portion here, may Christ comfort you
with His grievous and cursed death, and cause you to look upon Him,
and to expect your help from Him. He shall bring forth your
righteousness as the light, and one day in the sight of all your
enemies He shall justify you on the clouds of heaven. Let your
enemies and your pretended friends tread you underfoot for a while;
the Lord revive the love among His people and especially to Him Whom
we expect unto salvation. Amen.





The Death of Christ and His Descent Into Hell

Lord's Day 16


Psalter No.148 St. 1 & 3
Read Hebr. 9:11-28
Psalter No. 123 St. 1-3
Psalter No. 422 St. 6
Psalter No.425 St. 2,3,6


Beloved,

    Once a year, on the day of atonement, the high priest of the Old
Testament went into the Holy of Holies to make atonement for himself
and for the people. For himself the high priest also needed
atonement for he was a man as all men. He, too, needed to be washed
in the blood of Christ, of which the blood that he had to sprinkle
seven times with his finger eastward on the mercy seat, was a type
and a pledge. After this he had to kill the goat of the sin offering
that was for the people and bring his blood within the veil, and
also sprinkle that upon and before the mercy seat.
    
    This entrance of Aaron and his successors into the holy place
pointed to the entrance of Christ into the holy place, not made with
hands. He, the true High Priest, needed no atonement for His own
sins, for He had neither original nor actual sins. "Such an high
priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from
sinners." He went into the sanctuary, having brought about an
eternal reconciliation, only for His elect. He did not enter the
sanctuary made with hands. He was not a high priest after the order
of Aaron; for then must He often have suffered since the foundation
of the world, as the high priest of the Old Testament had to bring
his sacrifice every year. But Christ entered heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God for His people. In the heaven of
heavens He sits at the right hand of His Father, presenting day and
night before His Father the sacrifice He once brought to cover
perfectly all the sins of His people. No repetition of the sacrifice
of Christ, the only High Priest is necessary, nor possible. For "now
once in the end of the world He appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself." The sacrifice brought by Him on the cross put
away sin because by that sacrifice the debt of His people is paid
and God's righteousness is fully satisfied. Moreover by His
sacrifice, He removed the filth of sin from His people to present
them to His Father as a chaste virgin without spot or wrinkle. That
which the annually repeated sacrifices of the Old Testament were
unable to do was done by the only High Priest, Christ. By His
sacrifice God is satisfied with His people, and that people find by
faith everything necessary to be restored into communion with God.
    
    To do so it was necessary for the Son of God to humble Himself
unto death. God's righteousness demanded His death because He had
given Himself as Surety for the sins of the elect. He not only died
a natural death and confirmed it in His burial, but in His suffering
and death He even descended into hell.
    
    We must now discuss that death and descent into hell according
to the explanation of the sixteenth Lord's Day of the Heidelberg
Catechism.
    
    Lord's Day 16
    
Q. 40: Why was it necessary for Christ to humble Himself unto death?

A. Because with respect to the justice and truth of God,
    satisfaction for our sins could be made no otherwise, than by
    the death of the Son of God.

Q. 41: Why was He also "buried"?

A. Thereby to prove that He was really dead.

Q. 42: Since then Christ died for us, why must we also die?

A. Our death is not a satisfaction for our sins, but only an
    abolishing of sin, and a passage into eternal life.

Q. 43: What further benefit do we receive from the sacrifice and
    death of Christ on the cross?

A. That by virtue thereof, our old man is crucified, dead and buried
    with him; that so the corrupt inclinations of the flesh may no
    more reign in us; but that we may offer ourselves unto Him a
    sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Q. 44: Why is there added, "He descended into hell"?

A. That in my greatest temptations, I may be assured, and wholly
    comfort myself in this, that my Lord Jesus Christ, by His
    inexpressible anguish, pains, terrors, and hellish agonies, in
    which He was plunged during all His sufferings, but especially
    on the cross, has delivered me from the anguish and torments of
    hell.
    
    This Lord's Day speaks of the death of Christ and His descent
into hell; and shows us
    
      I. the necessity of Christ's death,
    
     II. the proof of Christ's death,
    
    III. the benefit of Christ's death, and
    
     IV. the hellish agonies in His suffering before His death.
    
    The sixteenth Lord's Day is the last one to speak of the state
of humiliation, and shows us the causes and the fruits of the death
and burial of the Lord. Brief and to the point is the answer to
Question 40: "Why was it necessary for Christ to humble Himself even
unto death?" Because with respect to the justice and truth of God,
satisfaction for our sins could be made no otherwise than by the
death of the Son of God." With respect to God's justice and truth,
therefore, the Mediator had to humble Himself unto death. God's
justice demands a full payment for sin, and that payment is made
only in bearing the judgment of death to its fullest extent. Hence
it could be no other way than that the Mediator entered death in the
place of His people. Sin must be punished. God cannot surrender His
justice, not in the least bit. That would injure His divine essence.
A god who can toy with his perfections is no god. May we be
thoroughly convinced of this against those who deny the
substitutionary, mediatorial work of Christ, because they have not
any notion neither of sin, nor of God's justice. May we understand
this rightly that God must punish sin because He is perfect. The
necessity of punishing lies in the essence of God, not in
compulsion, exercised upon Him. (How could that be?) God is under no
compulsion. It is His eternal delight to glorify His righteousness
in revenging sin. Far be it from God, that He should do wickedness;
and from the Almighty, that He should commit iniquity. In the fourth
Lord's Day we were clearly taught that God will punish sins in His
just judgment temporarily and eternally as He has declared, "Cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in
the book of the law, to do them." And that punishment of sin, being
the punishment of death came for the elect, and for them only, upon
Christ. Therefore He had to humble Himself unto death. Moreover,
God's truth demanded that death. Among men it is said to be poor
pedagogy to threaten punishment without fulfilling the threat; but
what kind of a conception do they have of God who think that the
punishment He threatens need not to be executed; that God is a God
of yea and nay? How very differently does God testify of Himself? "I
am the Lord, I change not." Because God never diverges from the word
of His mouth, Christ had to die, since the Lord had spoken, "In the
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
    
    Hence, both because of God's justice and because of God's truth,
the Mediator had to be humbled unto death. Since the covenant of
works was broken in its power to achieve eternal life, although the
demand of perfect obedience remained undiminished. there was but one
way by which the sinner could be reconciled with God, and atonement
for sin could be made, namely, by the death of the Son of God. God's
people learn to know that experimentally. A person, even with an
orthodox confession, disregards the impressions of his conscience,
as if he need not appear before God's judgment seat, notwithstanding
the fact that both God's justice and truth have sentenced him to
death, and that sentence must be executed. For God's elect a moment
will come in their lives that they are not only confronted with
their sins, but they see themselves placed before God's justice and
before the sentence of death pronounced upon them, and they learn to
know themselves as utterly lost before God. Oh, in what a terrible
state they find themselves, out of which no deliverance is possible.
Even the mercies of God cannot comfort them, unless God's justice is
satisfied and the sentence of death, according to His truth, is
executed upon One Who, as a Surety, will pay for them. This often
makes them cry out, "There is no soundness in my flesh because of
Thine anger, neither is there any rest in my bones because of my
sin." All ground upon which they wanted to build is fallen away.
They cry out, "My heart panteth, my strength faileth me." They learn
to despair of everything outside of Christ. Only by His death is
death swallowed up in victory; spiritual death, which consists in
separation from God's favour is destroyed; eternal death is changed
into eternal life, and temporal death becomes a passage into eternal
life. Justice and truth demanded the death of the Son of God; they
are glorified in that death, and demand the salvation of the elect.
Deliverance from the three-fold death rests upon the justice and
truth of God. Nothing shall ever prevent that salvation. This is the
firm foundation for the salvation of God's elect. They are purchased
with Christ's blood, and by His death satisfaction is given to
justice and God's truth is maintained. Behold, that is the great
mystery which the Holy Spirit reveals to His utterly lost people and
of which He wants to assure them. How everyone who has truly been
made to see his sins should seek to build on that foundation only,
so that he would find all his salvation in the death of Christ, in
which God's justice and truth are glorified perfectly. With nothing
less than the death of the Son of God could the violated perfections
of God be satisfied. That death was necessary. The precious Surety
not only had to suffer but also to humble Himself unto death to take
away God's wrath for His people. He has really died and proved it in
His burial, as we, in the second place, hear of the instructor as he
    
    II
    
shows us the proof of Christ's death.
    
    That proof is given us in His burial. The Catechism points to
that in Question 41: "Why was He also buried?" "Thereby to prove
that He was really dead." Christ had already testified that He died
when He cried out, "Father, into Thy hands I commit My Spirit." He
showed it when He bowed His head and gave up the ghost, and it was
confirmed by the action of the soldier who pierced His side with a
spear, causing blood and water to flow out; and by the investigation
of Pilate, which proved that He had really died. By descending into
the grave, Christ also showed that He had really died. He bore the
power of death to the fullest extent; Zion's King struck Satan who
had the power of death, in his heart. In death, his last stronghold,
He eternally destroyed him. He has taken captivity captive so that
He might proclaim the opening of the prison to them that are bound.
To that end He descended into the grave, although the corruption of
death did not cause His flesh to decay. Here the prophecy was
fulfilled: "Thou wilt not suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption." So
particularly did God care for the lifeless body of the Mediator,
that the glory of His victorious entrance into death shone in His
burial. Man had appointed His grave with the wicked, there on
Golgotha, where they usually buried those who had been crucified;
there they planned also to bury Him; but God had ordained otherwise.
The burning fire of love in the heart of Joseph of Arimathea and
Nicodemus which had smoldered so long under the ashes of the fear of
man, broke into flame. Even in the Sanhedrin they had taken a lone
stand, and although their vote could not prevent the condemnation,
they did not concur in it. Now, after the sentence is executed, they
cannot remain hidden any longer. They asked Pilate for the body of
Christ, and laid their Lord in a new grave, hewn out of a rock, in
which no one had yet been buried. Let the world mock, they shall
honour Him, Who indeed bore the curse, but not for His own sin, Who
knew neither original, nor actual sin. He was "with the rich in His
death."
    
    Nevertheless, that burial was a disgraceful humiliation. It is
so for everyone, for in our burial this judgment is fulfilled: "Dust
thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Our body is then given
over to the worms. In the burial the corruption that came over man
by sin becomes evident. His glory is gone, also his might, although
it made thousands tremble, also his fame, envied by many. "His glory
shall not descend after him. Though while he lived he blessed his
soul; and men will praise thee when thou does well to thyself. He
shall go to the generations of his fathers; they shall never see
light. Man that is in honour, and understandeth not (that is, has no
spiritual knowledge of Christ and His benefits), is like the beasts
that perish." Oh, that we would think more about it, that one day
our place shall be in the grave, that we may know how frail we are,
and may count our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
    
    That deep humiliation then, Christ took upon Himself. He entered
that chilly, awful and frightful grave. His lifeless body had to
bear the judgment of sin also in the grave, in order that He might
also sanctify the grave for His elect. He could do so because He is
the Son of God. For even in His death the natures were not
separated. With full consciousness He experienced the descent into
the grave. Just as Jonah was in the fish, so the Son of man was in
the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. Thus the Son
of God consciously suffered this bitter humiliation. Thus the
Mediator took away for His people the judgment, the bitterness, and
the shame that lie in the grave. Neither death nor grave shall harm
God's children at all. Oh, that the fear of death and the terror of
the grave were taken away from them more. Their death shall be no
death but a passage into eternal life, and the grave, which is an
abhorring to the wicked, is sanctified to be a bed to "each one
walking in his uprightness." (Isaiah 57.)
    
    May all those who are unregenerate of heart tremble and fear at
the thought of death. Let their heart shrink whenever they walk on
the cemetery, which is the end of all the living. Their death, if
they do not find a ransom in the mediatorial work of Christ, shall
be so terrible, their grave an abhorring. "Kiss the Son, lest He be
angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a
little."
    
    Let the upright of heart taste the peace of the cemetery. Let
their eyes pass over the graves of those, who had this testimony
that they pleased God, whose death was gain, and then hear how that
grave cries to them, "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from
henceforth." Is there any terror left for them then? Has not the
grave lost all its chill? By His burial He took the curse out of
their grave and sanctified their tomb. It shall be their rest. In
Christ they seek the destruction of death and release from the bonds
of the grave, so that the fear of death and the grave shall be
swallowed up and their soul shall glory in the redemption which is
in Christ Jesus. By His burial the Lord confirmed that He really
died and thus has satisfied the justice and truth of God. Oh, if
this death and burial of Christ may be confirmed to us
experimentally by the application of the Holy Spirit and by the
embrace of faith, the fear of death and the grave is taken away, and
God's people are set at liberty, as Paul says, "To depart and to be
with Christ is far better for me." If we lack the assurance of
Christ's death and burial, death often has such terrors for God's
people. Therefore they should always seek to be assured of their
fellowship with the death and burial of the Lord, by which death is
swallowed up in victory. In His burial the Lord proved that He had
really died. That was important, for without that death there would
be no satisfaction to God's justice and truth. Out of that death of
Christ, God's people receive, as we in the third place consider
    
    III
    
the great benefit, that our old man is crucified, dead and buried
with Him; that so the corrupt inclinations of the flesh may no more
reign in us; but that we may offer ourselves unto Him a sacrifice of
thanksgiving.
    
    We are shown a twofold fruit of the death of Christ: (a) our
death is no satisfaction for sin; and (b) that by the death of
Christ our old man is crucified, dead and buried with Him.
    
    (a) By His death Christ has swallowed up death in victory and
has destroyed him, who had the power of death, that is, the devil.
Why then must God's children also die, if Christ died for them and
thus destroyed death? Should we not necessarily conclude from the
fact that Christ by His death brought complete satisfaction, that
they would be freed from the threat of death upon sin? Could they
not go to heaven like Enoch and Elijah? God certainly cannot and
will not punish sins twice. If God's justice is perfectly satisfied
in the death of Christ, according to God's immutable justice how can
death come upon the believer? This objection would have force if
God's children had to die to satisfy God's justice. Then either
justice was not fully satisfied in Christ, or God demanded
satisfaction twice, which is contrary to justice. But it is not
thus. Hear the instructor's answer to that objection: "Our death is
not a satisfaction for our sins, but only an abolishing of sin, and
a passage into eternal life." Not a satisfaction for our sin. For
God's elect there is satisfaction for their sins, all their sins,
both original and actual sins. The wrath of God does not burn any
more against those who are in Christ Jesus. "For this is as the
waters of Noah unto Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah
should no more go over the earth; so I have sworn that I would not
be wrath with thee, nor rebuke thee." (Isaiah 54:9). Hence also in
death there is no wrath of God for those that are bought with the
blood of Christ. For those who are unconverted it is indeed so, but
not for God's children. The sting has been removed from death; death
has lost the dreadful characteristic of being the wages of sin;
death is not death anymore for those who die in the Lord. If that
fruit of Christ's death were impressed more upon the soul of God's
people, they would have less fear of death. Often death still has
such a terrifying power for them. That is because of the instability
of their faith. If only their soul were assured that the end would
be peace, there would be less dread of death. Even if they cannot
deny what they have experienced, the doubt whether their matters are
right for eternity, whether they are truly found in Christ, whether
God's wrath is pacified for them, causes them to dread that
all-decisive hour of death. Then it will be the trying hour for
them; then the blow shall fall; then it shall be eternal well or
eternal woe. Even though the consciousness of their state in Christ
lies firm, the separation of soul and body, which death brings,
causes us to fear him as the king of terrors. Even if that fear were
conquered, certainly everyone feels that we need grace to die in
order to be able to die, that grace that makes us loose from all
that is dear and precious on earth, that cuts the last ropes and
sets our ship free to sail into the harbor of eternal salvation. Oh,
do not speak lightly of death. Many of God's people have fought the
most strenuous battle with death, although they were assured of
their interest in Christ. On the other hand, in spite of the fear
which is natural to us as children of wrath, something of the
victory with which Christ conquered penetrates our heart. No, for
the people of God, death shall be no satisfaction for their sins!
Death is no act of God's curse or wrath. Let their soul keep
courage. Have you not heard of the death beds of those, who after
years of strife and doubting, gave a glorious testimony of the
victory over death and departed rejoicing and calling to you, "Still
wait for God, and He will hear, Wait and the Lord shall bring thee
aid; Yea, trust and never fear." The death of God's children is not
decisive; for once the full wrath of God descended upon Christ, and
in His death He swallowed up their death. Although God's children
are not taken to heaven like Enoch, and although God laid the way to
full salvation so that it runs through death, yet that death is not
a satisfaction for their sins. On the contrary, it is "an abolishing
of sin, and a passage into eternal life."
    
    How has Christ conquered death? By entering into death. How do
His people become partakers of His victory? By going the same way by
which Christ preceded them. In death God's people conquer death.
Their death is gain. In death they lay aside the sin that here on
earth constantly surrounded and cleaved unto them; in their death
they mortify forever the old man, that is, the flesh, that lusts
against the spirit, and they enter into the joy of the Lord. Oh,
tell me, is such dying a penalty? No, certainly not. Death which was
the penalty of sin has become a complete deliverance of all that
distressed the spiritual life, and a door unto eternal life. One day
even the body that has returned to dust shall be loosed from the
bands of death and, having been reunited with the soul, shall enter
eternal life. May that joyful hope of the full salvation cause us to
look beyond death, not fearing the struggle, since the victory is
sure in Christ. "Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward
receive me to glory."
    
    The instructor speaks particularly of the mortification of sin
in Question 43 as we now see
    
    (b) What further benefit do we receive from the sacrifice and
death of Christ on the cross? That by virtue thereof, our old man is
crucified, dead and buried with Him; that so the corrupt
inclinations of the flesh may no more reign in us; but that we may
offer ourselves unto Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving. This then is a
fruit of the sacrifice of the Lord that we may already taste here in
this life, the fruit of sanctification. For the true sanctification
flows out of Christ, Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).
    
    Therefore in the crucifixion of the Lord there lies not only a
reconciling and justifying, but also a sin-mortifying and soul
sanctifying power. Although these are different from each other,
they are inseparably bound together. There is no justification.
without sanctification.
    
    The old man: that is the corruption, which because of our fall
has spread itself over our whole being, called by the apostle the
body of sin. From that old man all corrupt inclinations, affections
and desires come and it is impossible that he should ever bring
forth anything that is good in the sight of God. The natural man has
nothing else; all his thoughts and actions are corrupt and are
dominated by unrighteousness. But in regeneration God the Holy
Spirit renews His children after the image of Him that created them.
This entire renewal is perfect in all parts, but not complete in its
steps. In other words, the understanding and the will have become
new, and the body with its abilities are subject to that renewed
will. Still the new man does not attain its full stature on this
side of the grave. In the understanding the darkness of sin remains,
and in the will the fomentation of wickedness. This is the struggle
for God's children till their last breath. How clearly Paul teaches
us about that struggle in Romans 7 and other places. He, the
favoured one who knew himself by faith to be a new creature in
Christ Jesus, and testifies so clearly of that renewal, also speaks
of the flesh that lusts against the Spirit, and that is as a law in
His members bringing him into captivity to the law of sin. The
remnant of the old man in the renewed children of Adam gives them no
rest night or day, and causes all their works to be imperfect in
themselves, and marred by sin. Thence are the many complaints and
their very sad and sometimes almost desperate conditions. Read
David's complaints in Psalm 51 and Heman's in Psalm 88, and that
complaint is heavier when access by faith to Christ is weaker. There
is only one means of deliverance from sin, namely - coming by faith
to Christ and His meritorious sacrifice, which is effective against
all the sins of His elect, and to His death, for in that death sin
is robbed of its dominion, and out of that death flows the
mortification of sin in the believer. "I am crucified with Christ;
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the
life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of
God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me."
    
    This is what the instructor calls the virtue of His death.
Thereby the old man is crucified. Dreadful was the judgment that
rested upon Christ; raging was the power of darkness that nailed Him
to the cross. Neither does the redeeming virtue of the Mediator deal
gently with sin, with the old man. That old man is nailed to the
cross to die a sure death. "Knowing this, that our old man is
crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that
henceforth we should not serve sin." (Rom. 6:6).
    
    Therefore sin shall no more have dominion over God's people: the
old man died with Christ. That is the benefit of the death of Christ
in His people.
    
    Oh, that by faith their soul might continually attain to that
benefit, that they do not esteem their sin too lightly. That brings
a leanness to their soul and deprives them of communion with God.
The spotlessly Holy One can have no fellowship with sin, and cannot
tolerate in His people that they, who are purchased from sin by the
precious price of the blood of the Lamb, shall walk in sin. Far be
it from us that we should use this liberty for an occasion to the
flesh. He who deals lightly with the old man, walks in darkness and
misses the comfort of the death and burial of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The benefit that Christ has destroyed the power of sin is for the
contrite who, because they have been renewed, see and grieve about
the activity of the old man. "That so the corrupt inclinations of
the flesh may no more reign in us; but that we may offer ourselves
unto Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving."
    
    Now our Catechism opens to us the depth in the suffering of the
Mediator as he discusses in the last question
    
    IV
    
the hellish agonies in Christ's suffering before His death.
    
    Question 44 reads, "Why is there added, 'He descended into
hell'?" The confession concerning the descent into hell follows that
which has been said in the "Twelve Articles of Faith" about Christ's
suffering, death and burial. That does not mean that the Lord Jesus
descended into hell after His death. That is what the Roman
Catholics say and the Lutherans also. The Catholics say that the
believers who died before Christ were waiting in a vestibule of hell
until He should come to deliver them from there and bring them to
heaven. How foolish! There is no purgatory, no limbuspatrum. Would
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon and all those that desired a
better country have remained outside of heaven all those ages? Or
have they entered the glory that was prepared for them before the
foundation of the world? Was the security that Christ gave to His
Father in eternity in the Covenant of Redemption not sufficient to
allow all God's elect to enter immediately upon their death into the
salvation that was prepared for them? No, the Lord Jesus needed not
to descend to hell in the sense that after His death He went
personally into hell or into the vestibule, or limbus of the
fathers; that vestibule has never existed. How very differently Paul
teaches us in the letter to the Hebrews: "These all died in faith
... For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a
country. And truly if they had been mindful of that country from
whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have
returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an
heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for
He has prepared for them a city." No, Christ never went to hell.
Neither can the Roman Catholics appeal to 1 Peter 3, that Christ
went and preached unto the saints in prison. To these Noah preached
the word of Christ while they were still alive. Neither does
Ephesians 4:9 give them any grounds, but refers to the Lord's
burial. Thus they have not any grounds in Scripture. We must not
localize the descent to hell, and let us remember that it happened
before His death. Our Catechism says, in accordance with the word of
God that descent into hell means Christ's suffering. And Luther
then? The Lutherans say that Christ went to hell after His death to
prove His victory. But Christ had proved His victory when He
commended His spirit into the hands of His Father. In spite of all
the powers of Satan, His spirit ascended to heaven, and His body
reposed in the grave. We do not speak of a descent to hell after His
death. When "He descended into hell" follows the confession of His
death and burial, that does not mean that the descent into hell
follows His death, but the Apostles' Creed shows what was in the
suffering and death of Christ before He gave up the ghost, namely
the suffering to which His people with all Adam's posterity are
subject, that is, the pains of hell. When the weeping women followed
the crossbearing Mediator, He said to them, "Weep not for Me." They
did not understand the depth of His suffering; they only saw the
outward humiliation. But there was very much more in that suffering
and death. As the surety He bore what His elect would have had to
bear; He bore the hellish pains to which they were eternally subject
and He rescued them from hell. That descent into hell took place
therefore, before the death of Christ and means that He bore the
pains of hell. Now the Catechism reaches so deep into the meaning of
the descent into hell that he takes the greatest comfort for God's
people from it. The justly praised Westminster Catechism considers
the descent into hell to be His tarrying in the state of death, but
the Heidelberg Catechism goes farther into the depth of that
descent. Both, however, confess, in opposition to the Roman
Catholics and Luther, that it does not mean that Christ went
personally to hell. The Heidelberg Catechism concludes from His
descent into hell "That in my greatest temptations, I may be
assured, and wholly comfort myself in this that my Lord Jesus
Christ, by His inexpressible anguish, pains, terrors, and hellish
agonies in which He was plunged during all His sufferings, but
especially on the cross, has delivered me from the anguish and
torments of hell." The assaults of Satan can be very fierce, not
only at first in conversion but sometimes also later on the path of
life, and all those assaults have even more power when terrors rob
the soul of rest and strength to flee to God. It seems as if prayer
is cut off. It seems to them as if they will not see the kind face
of their Father anymore. Some of God's children are severely tried
in this awful conflict with the powers of hell and think back to
those times with fear. Take, for example, Job and Paul. The Lord led
them into that conflict only so that by faith they might glory the
more in the victory of Him Who descended into hell, Who bruised the
head of Satan, in Whom they are more than conquerors, and in Whom,
powerless as they are in themselves, they shall triumph eternally.
In Him they left their heads aloft and wear the victor's crown, as
we sing in Psalter No. 422, St. 6
    
    Application
    
    "Thou art, O God, our boast, the glory of our power"
    
    Beloved, you are with me and all people by nature children of
wrath. That judgment is not removed by baptism nor by the great
privilege, given us from our early youth till our graying years, of
living under the Word of God. Only communion with Him Who bore the
full wrath of God can deliver us from the eternal judgment of death.
How urgent then is the question whether we truly have received
communion with the suffering of that wrath by the only Mediator
between God and men. God finds His people where they lie in the open
field polluted in their blood. Oh, those people learn to know
themselves as objects of God's wrath, unhappy forever. May you be
given that knowledge, for such unhappy ones are not unhappy. Yet the
whole world and all God's people cannot comfort them. They need a
Surety for their debt; One Who placed Himself under God's judgment,
Who bore the wrath of God and was judicially sentenced to the death
of the cross. Oh, sorrowing souls, unhappy in yourself, the Lord
grant you to know by faith, Him Who in your stead placed Himself
under the wrath of God and put away that wrath for you. Often you
are worried whether the work that is in you is right and saving.
Your concern should be more to embrace Christ by faith. There can be
so many convictions that are not right and have no value for
eternity. We can be deceived by them. But no one will be deceived
with Christ. Seek Him to be your Savior, denying all outside of Him.
In Him salvation is possible for the greatest of sinners. Has your
soul never beheld by faith that great salvation in Him? Did all your
sins bother you then? Would you then not have shouted to the whole
world, "Salvation has been wrought"? Truly, these are matters that
God's people cannot deny. How often the Lord has bound your soul to
Himself with promises. Still your heart can be so worried. What is
still lacking? The acquittal before God's bar. At that bar, in that
judicial sentence, we do not appear robed in our experiences, but as
condemnable sinners, laden with original and actual sins. Then to
God's children the acquittal will be imputed that was given to Him
Who once was condemned by the temporal judge Pontius Pilate so that
He might free His people in the judgment of God. Oh, seek to receive
that acquittal in your heart by the sealing of the Holy Spirit. How
you would marvel in the secret, that you as a sinner are reconciled
with God through Christ, and that not to become a great Christian,
but as a condemnable sinner to have your ground of salvation by
faith in Him Who once was judicially condemned in your stead,
although He had no sin, in order that He might acquit you before the
bar of God's eternal justice. The Lord confirm it in your hearts,
people of God, and build you up in the most holy faith, that Christ
may be all in all. May He grant us that we may remain poor sinners
in ourselves, dying from day to day, so that we may receive of His
fulness grace for grace. Amen.
    
    
    


The Profit of the Rest erection
of Christ

Lord's Day 17


Psalter No. 29 St. 2 & 3
Read 1 Cor. 15:1-20
Psalter No. 318 St. 3-5
Psalter No. 421 St. 6
Psalter No. 193 St. 1, 2,3


Beloved,
    
    I Corinthians 15, of which a part was read to you, is the
chapter that deals especially with the resurrection of the dead, and
regarding the resurrection to salvation for both body and soul of
the elect, the Apostle emphasizes strongly that this finds its firm
foundation in the resurrection of Christ. In the fourth verse
already where he admonishes the Corinthians to remain in the gospel
which is preached to them, Paul says Christ died according to the
Scriptures, that He was buried and that He rose again the third day
according to the Scriptures. After this he gives many proofs of that
resurrection, and then to refute those who deny the resurrection of
the dead he writes, "Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the
dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the
dead?"
    
    Then the holy writer of the epistle to the Corinthians presents
the great significance of the resurrection of Christ for His elect.
saying that if Christ were not risen then the preaching of the
apostles was vain, "your faith is also vain". Then the Lord's
servants were false witnesses of God, and those who by His power
were raised from the dead were yet in their sins. Yea, they who had
fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
    
    Concerning the whole church of God of which David sang, "Blessed
is the people who know the joyful sound", and Moses cried out many
years earlier, "Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee, O
people saved by the Lord, the Shield of thy help, and Who is the
Sword of thy excellency" of all those people we would have to say,
if Christ were not raised, "If in this life only we have hope in
Christ, we are of all men most miserable." How irrefutable therefore
Paul shows the importance for salvation of the resurrection of
Christ from the dead. That resurrection is the most important
article of our religion. There would never be one sinner delivered
from spiritual, eternal or temporal death if the Lion from the tribe
of Judah had not risen from the dead. Who can arise out of spiritual
death by his own power? Does not the Lord call His own by the
efficacious application of His resurrection from the grave, "Awake
thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead?" "The hour comes," said
the Lord Himself, "and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of
the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." That spiritual
quickening is the fruit of the deliverance out of eternal death,
that the Lord Jesus destroyed for His people, when He not only paid
for them by His suffering and death, but also by His arising from
the grave.
    
    Finally, the deliverance of temporal death is a fruit of the
resurrection of the Lord. On the third day He arose from the grave
in which He was laid by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, and by
that resurrection He has conquered also temporal death. Even though
they shall have served God's counsel to the end, their soul and body
shall also be separated, still their death (as we have seen in the
previous Lord's Day) is no satisfaction for their sin, but a passage
into eternal life. The sting of death, namely sin, has been taken
away for God's people by the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
How foolish are they who rob the soul of all comfort by denying the
resurrection of Christ. They are like the Sadducees of old and like
those who rose up in the days of Paul and in all ages after him. In
the resurrection of Christ all those who were given Him by the
Father are saved. May it please the Lord to give us a little
experience of the power and comfort of Christ's resurrection as we
now wish to consider the seventeenth Lord's Day of the Heidelberg
Catechism.
    
    Lord's Day 17
    
Q. 45: What does the resurrection of Christ profit us?

A. First, by His resurrection He has overcome death, that He might
    make us partakers of that righteousness which He had purchased
    for us by His death; secondly, we are also by His power raised
    up to a new life; and lastly, the resurrection of Christ is a
    sure pledge of our blessed resurrection.

    In this Lord's Day the profit of Christ's resurrection is
discussed. Let us give our attention
    
    1. to the resurrection that brought about this profit,
    2. to the divine glory with which this profit was attained,
    3. to the riches that this profit contains.
    
    I
    
    The Catechism taught us to know the Mediator in His names
(Lord's Days 11, 12 and 13), then in the state of His humiliation
(Lord's Days 14, 15 and 16) and in the three following Lord's Days
it will speak of the state of exaltation, and that in this manner
one Lord's Day speaks of His resurrection, the next of His
ascension, and the third of His sitting at the right hand of God and
His return to judge the world. The seventeenth Lord's Day then
speaks of the resurrection, and especially of the fruit of the
resurrection. In order to know that fruit better we shall first
discuss shortly the resurrection that brought about this profit.
    
    The resurrection is the first step of Christ's exaltation. He
Who was so deeply humbled, Who descended so wonderfully deep to the
death of the cross, did not remain in death. Had He done so, there
would never be salvation for lost sinners. How clearly the apostle
says this in the words already quoted from I Cor. 15: "If Christ be
not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they
also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." Christ's
resurrection is the most important part of our religion. according
to Romans 8 there is more in His resurrection from the grave than in
His death. "It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen
again." What a joyous tiding the church receives on Easter morning:
"The Lord is risen indeed." This tiding was not believed by the
disciples; it was denied by the world and yet the fact of His
resurrection from the grave cannot be denied, nor His victory over
death and hell. They tried everything to keep Him in the grave. Even
their dividing of His clothes clearly meant, "He shall never again
wear them, He doesn't need them any more, it is done with Him."
Their purpose of keeping Him in the grave for good showed more
clearly still in what the enemy did after His death. That seal on
the stone, that watch at the grave; did they not show the firm
determination to keep Him in death forever? Satan put forth all his
strength to triumph, seeing he had succeeded so far that the Son of
David had died on the cursed tree. All this, however, makes the
victory that lies in the resurrection all the more glorious. Neither
stone, nor seal, nor watch were able to confine Christ in death. He
freely humbled Himself in death, but also arose by His own power.
For the redemption of all His elect His word sounded, "Now will I
rise, now will I be exalted." The resurrection belongs to the
glorification of the humbled Surety.
    
    It seems as if all the circumstances under which the
resurrection took place were vying with each other to add splendor
to it. The earth quaked upon its foundations; it was involved in the
resurrection. Because of sin it was cursed, but in the resurrection
that curse was in principle rolled away from the earth. In the
resurrection is founded the new creation which shall one day cause a
new earth to be, upon which righteousness shall dwell. "For the
angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the
stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like
lightning, and His raiment white as snow." Thus the grave of the
Lord was opened with splendor. An angel rolled the stone away and
sat on it, to show that he ruled over it; no one could roll it to
the grave again; no one could even approach the stone. The
countenance of the angel was like blinding lightning. As lightning
cuts through the air unexpectedly, irresistibly and blindingly, so
the angel of the Lord appeared. Was it a wonder that the keepers
became as dead men, and fled with haste? Here the majesty of God
shone, the burning holiness, the glorified righteousness of the Lord
God. Here Satan's head is crushed, and all that opposes Christ is
destroyed. Therefore the keepers fled, and became as dead men.
    
    Christ is the perfect conqueror of death and the grave. With
heavenly glory He arose out of the new sepulchre in which Joseph of
Arimathea and Nicodemus had laid Him. He is the Lion out of the
tribe of Judah that won the eternal victory. He rides upon the white
horse of His victory, conquering and to conquer. He Who could say,
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up." He, Who
sure of His victory, declared that He had power to lay down His
life, but also to take it again, He arose by His own power, but He
is also raised up by the Father (Acts 2), to show that the justice
of God is satisfied for all the elect. Thus Christ is raised for
their justification. Also to the Holy Ghost the resurrection is
ascribed, which is the work of the triune God. "If the Spirit of Him
that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up
Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His
Spirit that dwelleth in you."
    
    Immediately a lie was spread that denied the resurrection. The
keepers were bribed and their word was believed by many of the Jews,
and the lie gained ground by many against the preaching of Christ's
resurrection. In every way the world has sought to show that the
resurrection according to the Scriptures was an impossibility. How
terrible is the foolishness of our generation in believing the lie
rather than the truth. Oh, do read the simple gospel story and lay
beside it the fancy tales of the world, which must all become
nothing and disappear. Start with the story of the keepers. They say
that they slept, and that so soundly that they did not notice that
the stone was rolled away and the body stolen. Yet they can tell
what has happened and who did it. How could they know? Why then
didn't they pursue the thieves? Why were they not punished for
sleeping on an important post? Would they all have slept at the same
time? Who believes that? The thieves must have felt quite at ease to
have removed the linen clothes before removing the body. Who can
give credence to such a keeper's story, which is proved to be a lie
especially when the keepers themselves tell the government of their
very guilty neglect?
    
    The apostles who preached the resurrection story were never
contradicted. Here the lie speaks for itself. But can we believe the
disciples? Yes, certainly! For the disciples were convinced by the
risen Christ. They did not believe the resurrection; they sat with
the doors shut for the fear of the Jews. Even when the women said
they had seen the Lord, the disciples persisted in their unbelief.
'T was only women's talk. Think about Thomas. These discouraged,
unbelieving men preached the resurrection since Christ had appeared
to them and showed them His body. How many witnesses Paul enumerates
in I Cor. 15. "He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve; after that
He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the
greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
After that He was seen of James, then of all the apostles. And last
of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time."
    
    Let the scorner of God's Word roar with enmity against these
testimonies; let him oppose the resurrection with all his power; he
shall flee from the sepulchre, but shall not escape the judgment
that the risen Mediator shall pronounce. Nor shall he be able to
disannul the truth for which Paul could summon more than two hundred
and fifty witnesses. One day all knees shall bow before the King of
kings Who conquered the devil, Who had the power of death and Who
destroyed death for His people.
    
    In the resurrection of Christ that profit was brought about of
which the Catechism speaks. The faith and hope and comfort of God's
children have a firm foundation. Truly they are not built upon the
suppositions of a presumed citizenship of heaven, nor upon emotions
which can even be experienced by reprobates. Yea, we can go a step
further and see the firm foundation of the comfort of the elect, not
in their experiences but in Christ, Who was dead and is alive
forevermore.
    
    By His resurrection the benefit for God's elect church, of which
this Lord's Day speaks, is brought about. Oh, how indispensable it
is to find by faith the fountain of our life in the resurrection of
Christ. In that resurrection the full glory of the deeply humiliated
Surety and Mediator shone forth. God's people cannot live with a
dead Jesus. Christ had to arise from death so that His people can
conquer death. In full glory the Lord arose out of the grave as we
now hear in the second place when we give our attention
    
    II
    
to the divine glory with which this profit was attained.
    
    In the resurrection lies the victory of Christ; He triumphed
over death and hell; He crushed the head of Satan, He Who is become
the First fruits of them that slept. In His resurrection lies the
root of all deliverance from death. By His death Christ merited
righteousness for His people. Before God's justice all Adam's
posterity are guilty, also the elect. Justice demands of them the
threefold death. But now the guilt of His people is laden upon
Christ. He was condemned by the justice of God. Therefore He had to
humble Himself unto death; but by His death the Surety has satisfied
the justice of God perfectly. He has finished the work given Him.
The justice of God is satisfied in the death of Christ. By that
death He has merited perfect righteousness. That righteousness was
perfectly sufficient for the Father to Whom He offered Himself and
had to be declared by the Judge Himself. Not an advocate, but the
judge pronounces the judgment. The Father, then, pronounced the
judgment and acquitted the Surety, and in Him all the elect when He
raised up Christ from the dead. In the resurrection, therefore,
Christ, and in Him all His people were pronounced righteous.
    
    The resurrection is also ascribed to Christ Himself. He is not
only raised up, but by His own power He arose and showed Himself to
be the Lion from the tribe of Judah Who was victorious. With what
divine glory did He arise from the grave. We already mentioned that
the earth quaked, that an angel of the Lord descended and rolled
away the stone from the door of the sepulchre, that the keepers were
afraid, and became as dead men, and fled with haste when Zion's
eternal King arose victorious from the dead. God's attributes are
glorified to the salvation of the elect. They shall obtain eternal
life without violating God's justice. According to His sovereign and
immutable counsel they shall praise Him perfectly in their eternal
felicity.
    
    Through the depth of Adam's fall the Lord shall be glorified, as
His perfections now shine forth in Him who was risen from the dead.
The editorial work of Christ has now been crowned. He triumphs
eternally, and His people in Him. He is the last Adam in Whom His
elect partake of salvation. With all those who are comprehended in
Adam, they fell when he fell. They who are comprehended in Christ
are redeemed in Him when in eternity He stood in their stead and
when in time He arose from the dead.
    
    Those that are comprehended in Christ must be made to partake of
that merited righteousness. No, it cannot just be picked up. A
person does not of himself come to the righteousness of Christ; by
nature he does not want to seek His righteousness in Christ. "Ye
will not come unto Me," said He Who knows the heart. It is therefore
a harmful, deceptive representation that seeks to force Christ upon
a man, that tells him to go to Jesus with his sins, to believe in
Him, and accept Him, without speaking a word of man's unwillingness
and inability to seek righteousness in Christ as the only robe that
can cover our nakedness before God. Such crying out about Jesus'
all-sufficiency and love sounds like universal atonement and the
denial of man's state of death.
    
    No, we do not limit God's work, nor do we urge that conviction
must be so severe and so deep; yet not in a superficial way that is
the result of a bringing up under the Word of God, man must be
taught that He is lost, and that the merited righteousness of Christ
must be applied by Him to the sinner. When Joshua, the high priest,
stood before God in filthy garments, he himself did not remove the
filthy garments, nor did he clothe himself with change of raiment;
but those that stood before him changed his garments. For that
reason Christ arose from the dead to apply to His people the
righteousness He merited by His death.
    
    Thus the actual reconciliation with God our Judge flows from the
resurrection. Death is the wages of sin, and by the conquest of
death sin was given its wages; in the resurrection God the Father
granted the receipt; in the resurrection the church is justified; in
the justification lies the quickening of the elect. In all that the
church obtains in Christ in this time, they must be made partakers
in Christ, if they are to draw any profit for their salvation from
Him. This will be more clearly explained in the third main point in
which we notice
    
    III
    
the riches that this profit contains.
    
    We have a living Savior. He rides upon the white horse of His
victory, and brings His own out of the state of death unto eternal
life. He makes the guilty ones, those condemned by the judgment of
God, free from sin and clothes them with righteousness. This is the
first benefit from the resurrection of Christ. "First, by His
resurrection He has overcome death, that He might make us partakers
of that righteousness which He has purchased for us by His death."
He could not make us partakers while He remained in death. Therefore
He arose from the dead and works that miracle of grace in such a
manner that the soul becomes aware of it. That miracle is not
wrought outside of the soul's consciousness. Faith appropriates it
on the ground of the preceding application of Christ. Faith has its
steps; you speak of the essence and of the quintessence of faith,
but the application of righteousness by Christ is one. Either the
righteousness is applied to us, or it is not applied to us. Christ
granted it to us and therewith a ground of acquittal before God of
our guilt and sin, or we lack that righteousness and are condemnable
creatures before God. It is one or the other, a third way is
impossible. Let everyone examine himself how he stands in this
matter.
    
    If you ask when Christ makes His people partakers of that
righteousness which He has merited for all His elect by His death,
the answer is: In regeneration. Every regenerate person is a
partaker of Christ, is an heir by virtue of His spiritual birth; is
acquitted by God the Father because of the sacrifice of Christ, and
has a right to eternal life. I wish that men would not encumber this
simple truth with reasons derived from the conflict and victory of
faith and the consciousness of faith. The right of the regenerate to
salvation can never waver. Faith may be assaulted, but the right
merited by Christ is above all conflict, and in that right He
demands the sinner in regeneration. What other ground could have any
value to redeem men from Satan's claws than the victory of Christ
Who in His death crushed Satan's head. How could any soul receive
even one token of God's favour except on the ground that Christ has
rendered perfect satisfaction and silenced the wrath of God.
Therefore it is clear that when a sinner is quickened, Christ
applies to him the righteousness He merited by His death; in other
words, glorifies His resurrection in the dead sinner. It is
something else to embrace the applied righteousness in full
consciousness by faith.
    
    This embracing by faith can be so lacking, that with a true
knowledge of sin, the quickened soul who has been acquitted by
Christ before God, walks about as if condemned. The inexorable
righteousness of God burns upon his soul like an unquenchable fire,
and almost no hope remains. He is distressed day and night; the
thought of being lost forever brings him into the dust of death.
although there is still an evidence of God's grace in the fact that
this condemned sinner still pleads with his Judge for mercy. Even if
Christ reveals Himself to the sinner as having perfectly satisfied
God's justice, even then the appropriation by faith is so weak that
it seems as if his guilt is still not atoned. The soul readily
admits that the sacrifice brought in the death of Christ makes full
atonement for all God's children, but the question whether he is a
partaker of that blessing causes much conflict. Although God's
promises sustain him, he feels as though there is still a gulf
between Christ and him; faith is too weak to rely upon Christ; there
is so much leaning upon his own strength that he does not lean only
upon Christ by faith.
    
    This is what many souls lack. We must leave all to have the
ground of our salvation in Christ alone. If by the power of the Holy
Spirit we may lose our life; if we are cut off from the fountains of
our life and our righteousness, and we become nothing but a
condemnable creature before God, then also by faith our soul shall
embrace the full salvation in Christ, and with all our cleaving to
sin yet by the application of Christ's righteousness, our soul shall
be brought by faith above the condemnation, and the acquittal of the
Father shall resound in our hearts. All this however does not take
away the fact that Christ arose from the dead in order to make us
partakers of the righteousness He merited by His death, when in the
hour of His good pleasure He awakens us to a new life. Therefore,
they who are called by Christ out of death shall not be lost,
however great their fear may be.
    
    That is the benefit which lies in the first place in the
resurrection of Christ for all His people whether small or great. He
makes them partakers of the righteousness merited by His death, and
no man shall take it from them, and He wants to assure them of that
perfect righteousness; yea, in every exercise of faith He drives
doubt out of their soul.
    
    Upon the ground then of their being partakers of His
righteousness, God the Father actually looks upon His chosen church
as the object of His favour, and the Holy Spirit works in them what
the instructor calls the second benefit out of the resurrection of
Christ, namely, that "we are also by His power raised up to a new
life." By nature we are dead in trespasses and sins, spiritually
dead. As impossible as it is for a dead person to arise by himself
out of the grave, so impossible it is for a spiritually dead person
to arise out of the grave of sin.
    
    For those who are bought with Christ's blood, there will come a
moment determined by God's good pleasure, when they shall be
awakened out of their sleep of death. To that end their Lord and
Savior arose from the dead. "Because I live, ye shall live also." He
awakens His people out of spiritual death. Oh, then they become
partakers of life in Him, an entirely different life than they lived
by nature. Their life is hid with Christ in God. They begin to love
God, His commandments, His ordinances and people. They would like to
live perfectly before God, and sin becomes death to them. Even if
there were neither heaven nor hell, the Lord before Whom they open
their hearts, knows they would rather die than to sin against God
any longer.
    
    Still their hearts are evil and sin is active within them, so
that they often ask, "Could that be consistent with grace? Is it
also thus with God's people?" But Scripture gives us a very clear
answer. Not only does the spouse say, "I am black," but in Romans 7
Paul declares to us how heavy his conflict was, and how with the
mind He served the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
But Christ is risen so that sin shall no longer have dominion in His
people, and that they should take refuge by faith in Him, Who is
their Advocate with the Father, and their Fountain of life, Who not
only awakens them to a new life, but also sustains that new life so
that it shall not die. God's people do not have life in themselves,
although they often seek it outside of Christ. There are times when
they cannot keep silent about the wonders of grace glorified in
them, but there are also days in which the stench of death emanates
out of all their experiences. Oh, then they are so distressed, even
the established people must say, "I am become like a bottle in the
smoke." Life languishes because they lack the right exercise of
faith. The cares and the delights of the world attain the upper
hand; sin becomes lively and if the Lord did not save them, they
would fall from one evil into another. They have hung their harps
upon the willows. Oh, that they were as in former days. Where is the
deepest cause? In the fact that they do not exercise communion with
the Prince of Life Who said, "Abide in Me, and I in you that you may
bear much fruit." Their picture is portrayed in Ezekiel 16 when they
became great, for this is the main lesson, that we must become
little and nothing before God.
    
        "The poor and needy He shall spare,
        And save their souls from fear;
        He will regard the poor man's cry
        When other helpers fail."
    
    Life is in Christ and of His fulness His people receive grace
for grace. For that purpose He rose from the dead as the great
Prince of Life. He shall maintain life in His people, so that they
shall never die, but shall be prepared by Him to eternal salvation,
of which God's people receive a sure pledge in the resurrection of
the Lord.
    
    The Catechism refers to this as the third fruit of the
resurrection of Christ, when it says, "Lastly, the resurrection of
Christ is a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection."
    
    Lord's Day 22 speaks specifically of the resurrection of the
body and life eternal. Therefore at this time I shall make only a
few remarks. All people shall one day arise from the dead when
Christ shall come upon the clouds. No one knows when that day shall
come, but the moment shall come, so unexpected when the trumpet
shall sound, "Ye dead, arise, and come to judgment." Then all people
shall be placed before God's judgment seat, the million times
million from Adam up to those which shall still be living on earth
when the Lord shall appear on the clouds. He shall then take His
elect unto Himself in glory, and cast all the rest into the lake
that burns with fire and brimstone to all eternity.
    
    Oh, that day, that day of judgment! Unutterable will be the
judgment over all those who have never learned to kneel before King
Jesus, but it is just as impossible to express the salvation for
them to whom the benefit of the resurrection of Christ as named by
the instructor shall apply, namely that His resurrection is a pledge
of their blessed resurrection. Their resurrection shall be a blessed
resurrection. They shall enter eternal glory with both body and
soul. When they die their soul shall immediately partake of
salvation. They have served God's counsel and are taken up in glory.
In this life they already have a foretaste of it; for they shall not
meet a strange God, nor an unknown Savior, and it will not be a
strange heaven that they shall enter, although they have seen but a
little of that perfect glory, and have tasted but a little of that
perfect joy. But that little is so great that they become sick with
love, and they long to depart and to be with Christ, which is far
better. Then their soul enters perfect bliss.
    
    The Lord Jesus has also purchased their body and in the
resurrection their soul and body shall be reunited. Then it shall be
a glorious body, and no inhabitant of that heavenly city shall say
"I am sick." All those purchased by Christ shall be like unto His
glorious body; no lame, no blind, no deaf, no maimed shall be there;
in complete perfection they shall serve and praise their God and
King in soul and body eternally, and reign with their Lord forever.
The resurrection of Christ is the sure pledge of that blessed
resurrection. However much God's children are beset with fears in
this life, they have a sure pledge in the resurrection of Him Whom
death could not hold, and Who already entered heaven with soul and
body, calling to His people, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I
will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there
ye may be also." God's people have one pledge in the resurrection of
the Lord, and one pledge, namely the Holy Spirit in their heart. Oh,
they may sing what we now shall sing, Psalter No. 422, St. 1:
    
    Application
    
    "My mouth shall sing for aye Thy tender mercies, Lord," etc.
    Thus in the resurrection of Christ lies His perfect victory
which He obtained for the salvation of His elect, but also for the
destruction of His enemies. By nature we are all enemies. Have you,
my dear hearer, ever learned to see your enmity? We are willing to
confess that we are dead, spiritually dead, and that only by grace
can we be saved, that we can do nothing to our salvation, but have
you ever learned to see your impotence as a fruit of your
unwillingness? Or do we try to hide behind our impotence and
secretly cast the blame upon God if we are not saved? Thus with open
eyes we go to our eternal destruction. Is there in Him Who crushed
the head of Satan and conquered death no divine power to awaken us
out of the state of death? He is the Rock out of which the living
waters flow. But who flees to Him? When Hagar's eyes were opened to
see the well when Ishmael was in danger of dying of thirst, she went
and filled the bottle with water; but which of us go to the Fountain
that is opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of
Jerusalem? Not one.
    Oh, I pray you, do not flatter yourself with false arguments
derived from your bringing up or from impressions you sometimes have
in your heart, but see your unwillingness to be saved in Christ. May
your guilt cause you to bow before God under the sentence of death,
that both your inability and your unwillingness might become the
cause of your eternal condemnation to which you have subjected
yourself and from which only He can save you Who arose from death so
that His people might live with Him forever. Let there remain among
us, both old and young, the consciousness that the Lord Jesus is the
perfect Savior, because He not only merited salvation, but also
applies it to His people. For that purpose He rose from the dead.
    
    Oh that He would shoot an arrow from His bow and strike your
heart, before your unwillingness to be saved by Him shall increase
your condemnation in the day of judgment, before you cry out, "If
only, if only I had," when the day of grace is past. Oh, children,
young men and young women, do not postpone your conversion. All of
us, both old and young must say with Isaac, "We know not the day of
our death," and God's Word calls to us, also today, "Haste thee,
escape for thy life." No, indeed, your work, your praying, your
reading, your church attendance, do not bring you into heaven, but,
they are the ordained means with which God works that which makes us
partakers of salvation in Christ. How happy is that people to whom
the merited salvation is applied by Him Who has swallowed up death
in victory.
    
    They are risen from death with Christ because of the atonement
by their Redeemer and the actual imputation thereof by the Holy
Ghost. That new life is shown in their hating sin and their loving
God and His commandments. Tell me, are you a stranger of those
characteristics of that new life? Yet they feel themselves so
unhappy when that liveliness is gone. If they could but see and
accept that Christ rose from death for them! But He is so hidden
from them, and they lack the appropriation by faith. Is that not the
soul sickness of many? Their salvation lies firm in Him Who lives
forever, but do they not often fear that they are deceiving
themselves?
    
    May the Lord teach us to understand more and more that the
ground of our salvation lies outside of ourselves and only in Him
Who could not be holden of death. Was that not your joy and your
hope when He revealed Himself to you? He will do so to His poor and
needy people when they give up all hope of themselves. No, they do
not see Him with their natural eyes; Paul was the last one to see
Him thus on the way to Damascus. Spiritually God's people see Him by
faith as the Prince of life. Could you ever forget that time and
place? Did not you, concerned people, have to learn to understand
more and more that He is risen to apply the salvation He had merited
by His death? We cannot lay hands on Him, even though they call from
the pulpits, "Just believe and accept Jesus." Are your arms not too
short? The application precedes appropriation. The Lord does not
share His work with us. We must come to an end with all our desires.
Oh, how dark the way to be saved in Him then becomes. They cannot
deny what God did to their soul, and yet they cannot accept Christ
as their own. What will become of them?
    
    Their way becomes more and more impossible. They are an enigma
to themselves; they sit with their doors shut. Are there not such
among us? Alas, they are standing in their own way. If they were but
cut off from their life before the judgment by of God, they would
receive the acquittal in Christ. Oh, people of God who are no
strangers of that, tell who the Lord is for His people to arouse a
holy jealousy for those who have not experienced it. May the Lord
keep us from being proud of grace received. It is not in that, but
in Christ lies our life. Oh, how we must die from day to day, die in
ways of darkness, in the workings of sin in us, in tribulations in
the flesh, in crucifying the world, in wrestling with Satan, and in
many more deep ways God leads His people, so that Christ alone will
be their life, that they may experience the rich comfort out of the
resurrection of Him Who swallowed up death in victory. The Lord make
us free from the fear of death, and cause us to live in the blessed
expectation of the glory which is prepared for us. Soon we shall
have finished the race, and our soul shall be taken up to Christ,
our Head. Yea, more, the day of the resurrection nears. The world is
ripening itself for its judgment, but then all those people
purchased by Christ shall enter eternal glory with both soul and
body, and our vile body shall be changed that it may be fashioned
like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is
able to subdue all things unto Himself. The Lord grant us to live
near to Him for it is good to be near to God. Amen.





Of the Ascension of Christ

Lord's Day 18


Psalter No.230 St. 1, 2,3
Read Ephesians 4:1-16
Psalter No. 318 St. 3,5,6
Psalter No. 418 St. 2
Psalter No. 259 St. 4


Beloved,

    Often in Scripture the Lord Jesus is called "a stone" upon Whom
His elect church rests immovably, yea, of Whom it receives life.
Thus Jacob already prophesied in his blessing of Joseph, with an eye
upon Him, "From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel."
"Behold," saith the Lord God, "I lay in Zion for a foundation a
stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation."
(Isa. 28:16). The entire structure of His church rests upon Him,
because He has satisfied the justice of God, has crushed Satan's
head and has robbed sin of its power. He arose from the grave as a
conqueror, and triumphs eternally at His Father's right hand. How
then could His church ever be moved? The gates of hell shall not
prevail against the church. All the attributes of God were involved
in the laying of this "Stone" in time. Already in eternity He was
laid in the Covenant which the Father made with Him and in Him with
all the elect. When therefore He was laid in time as the One born of
the virgin Mary, not only the eye of the Father rested upon Him so
that all that had been determined would be accomplished, but the
Spirit rested upon Him without measure. "For behold the stone that I
have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes"; that
means the Holy Spirit in all its fulness shall rest upon Him. Indeed
He is not only the rock which stands immovable, but also the rock
that works, as Moses spoke in Deut. 32:4, "He is the Rock, His work
is perfect." When Israel in the wilderness found no water, the Rock
worked and water flowed forth from Him, so that the people could
drink. Was that rock not a type of Christ? He carries His church and
is its firm foundation; He alone. "For other foundation can no man
lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Whoever builds upon
another foundation is as the foolish builder, who built his house
upon the sand: and when the rain descended, and the floods came, and
the winds blew, and beat upon that house, it fell, and great was the
fall of it. But the house of the wise builder, who built his house
upon a rock, withstood all the storms. Thus God's people shall be
saved that build by faith upon that Rock, Christ; upon the stone
that was rejected by the builders, but has become the headstone of
the corner. Only by faith that the Holy Spirit works in the hearts
of His people are they built upon the Rock Christ, and they receive
rest in Him.
    
    That working Rock also causes them to receive living water out
of Him continually, so that they may drink with joy from the wells
of salvation. The rock was not only laid in eternity and brought
forth in time, but after He had completed His work as the surety He
was laid in eternity as the ever working Rock. He brought His people
into heaven. He not only quieted God's wrath, disarmed the law of
its curse, but, having risen from the dead, He also ascended to
heaven. Then His people were also set in heaven with Him, and were
restored into God's favour and communion. How very significant then
is the ascension of Christ when He brought our human nature, soul
and body, into heaven.
    
    In Adam, the covenant-head of us all, all men have banished
themselves from heaven, have locked heaven forever, but Christ has
reopened heaven for His people. In Him they obtain in this life free
access by faith; they taste in Christ the first fruits of heavenly
bliss; and one day they shall be taken up to heaven, to dwell in
communion with God forever, and to bring all adoration and honour to
Him that sits upon the throne and to the Lamb, as He is worthy to
receive it to all eternity.
    
    We must now discuss further the ascension of Christ, according
to the explanation given us in the eighteenth Lord's Day of the
Heidelberg Catechism.
    
    Lord's Day 18
    
Q. 46: How dost thou understand these words, "He ascended into
    heaven"?

A. That Christ, in sight of His disciples, was taken up from earth
    into heaven; and that He continues there for our interest until
    He comes again to judge the quick and the dead.

Q. 47: Is not Christ then with us even to the end of the world, as
    He has promised?

A. Christ is very man and very God; with respect to His human
    nature, He is no more on earth; but with respect to His
    Godhead, majesty, grace and spirit, He is at no time absent
    from us.

Q. 48: But if His human nature is not present wherever His Godhead
    is, are not then these two natures in Christ separates from one
    another?

A. Not at all, for since the Godhead is illimitable and omnipresent,
    it must necessarily follow that the same is beyond the limits
    of the human nature He assumed, and remains personally united
    to it.

Q. 49: Of what advantage to us is Christ's ascension into heaven?

A. First, that He is our advocate in the presence of His Father in
    heaven; secondly, that we have our flesh in heaven as a sure
    pledge that He, as the head, will also take up to Himself, us,
    His members; thirdly, that He sends us His Spirit as an
    earnest, by whose power we "seek the things which are above,
    where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God, and not things
    on earth."
    
    We must now speak of the ascension of Christ as the instructor
teaches us
    
      I. what is meant by that ascension;
    
     II. which promises are fulfilled by that ascension;
    
    III. how the union of the two natures was continued by this
         ascension;
    
     IV. what advantage the ascension gives for God's people.
    
    After His resurrection the Lord tarried upon the earth for forty
days, showing Himself alive unto His disciples by many infallible
proofs and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
Those forty days were as a period of transition.
    Before His death the Lord had walked with His disciples almost
continuously; soon He would be with them no more according to the
body. Although He would remain with them much more than bodily,
namely with His grace, majesty and Spirit, yet the transition was
big and hard for them. The Lord, however, during His stay of forty
days not only thoroughly convinced them of His resurrection, but
also prepared them for His departure. His stay with them was
therefore not as before. He did not walk openly among the Jews, but
came, and that intermittently, to His disciples, now here and then
there, then to leave them again, and soon to depart from them bodily
until the great day of days. That departure was for their salvation
and great joy. The ascension of Christ is that comforting ascent to
the heaven of heavens, in which He was glorified with the glory
which He had before the world was, and at the same time His people
were glorified in Him.
    
    In His ascension the Lord Jesus brought our own human nature,
our soul and our body into heaven, and thus healed the breach made
by sin, so that the Apostle cries out, "He made us sit with Him in
heavenly places." By His ascension the Mediator is seated at the
right hand of the Majesty in the highest heavens, to be a prophet, a
priest and a king for His people, and that His people might have a
free access to the Father by Him. That ascension prepared a place
for the Holy Spirit, that Comforter that would remain, that would
never depart from His church, that was promised to the disciples.
and cheerfully expected by them. Oh, what a wonderful thing it was
for the disciples that Jesus ascended from earth to heaven before
their eyes. For the Lord ascended to heaven visibly; He wanted them
to see Him taking possession of that glory. They had not been
witnesses of His resurrection.
    
    No human eye saw the resurrection, but the ascension, Christ
performed before the eyes of His disciples. He Himself led them out
to Bethany and blessed them. "And it came to pass while He blessed
them, He was parted from them." While blessing them, He left them,
and was taken up higher and higher, with His disciples gazing after
Him until a cloud received Him out of their eyes. Bodily He was no
more with them, nor would He be seen of them anymore "after the
flesh", until that day when He shall stand bodily, as He ascended,
upon the clouds, to judge the quick and the dead, and when every eye
shall see Him; the eyes of His people, and also - how terrible! -
the eye of those that pierced Him.
    
    He had gone away from His disciples. What a change His ascension
brought about for them, a change which actually began with His
resurrection, and which weaned them from His bodily presence, so
that they would learn to walk by faith and not by sight. The
disciples had been so set upon His bodily presence. Even in His
appearance to Mary at the sepulcher that was seen, when the Lord had
to say to her, "Touch me not." No more would it be as before
Christ's suffering and death. Soon He would part from them, never to
walk with them again physically. He must ascend unto His Father.
    
    What a change in the life of His disciples! Yet they were
privileged to experience that change with gladness. "They worshipped
Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy." It was so very
different for them than when the Lord parted from them to die. Then
they could not bear the parting, then they were all offended in Him,
because they had no eye for the necessity of Christ's sacrifice, the
sacrifice that had everlasting value. They had imagined the way
would be so very different. But now the light had dawned in them.
Now they have learned to know their Lord in the power of His death
and His resurrection; now their soul is prepared for the coming of
the Holy Spirit, and they are able to miss the Lord's bodily
presence. Oh, blessed change!
    
    Our soul needs heavenly instruction to understand it. For, as
the disciples did, so God's people seek too much to find rest in
that sensible communion with the Lord Jesus. It certainly is a
precious time, that first time, in which we may feel so much that
the Lord is near. But how little we then understand of Christ's
mediatorial work, of the demanding justice of the Father, that could
find satisfaction only in the death of the Lord. What little light
of faith there is with all the enjoyment of love. What deep ways we
must go to be taken away from all things so that our soul may rest
in Christ alone. We must lose our life and enter into death. Oh, how
very precious Emmanuel then becomes to us; He who was made to be sin
for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, Who
redeemed us to God by His blood.
    
    He also arose to ransom us from the power of the grave. He was
glorified in order to bring His people back into communion with the
Father, and in order that they should glory in Him as the fairest
among the children of men and know Him as the fountain of life, and
expect of Him alone all their salvation. Now He may leave us. Our
soul does still long for that former life, for in learning to know
that humiliation and exaltation there was also so indescribably
full, an outpouring of the love of Christ and the experience of His
nearness. All that gave us such rest; that way of experience by
which the Lord led us made us feel such a firmness in our heart, and
such a resting upon what God did in us, as proof for us, that He
also became our Savior. Yet in tasting of the love of God in Christ,
we were resting more than we realized upon the grace in us, upon our
experience, upon our tasting of God's love and favour, than in the
God of our salvation. Then the Lord Jesus said, "It is expedient for
you that I go away." We could not agree to that. Go away? Oh, that
He would remain with us! But He went. First He still came from time
to time, and then He took us out to the Mount of Olives, and showed
us His entrance into glory. Yes, then we could agree. Then we saw
Him ascend, to understand that His being at God's right hand is
more. Oh, the full streams of salvation that flow out of Christ! He
departed, not to give His people over to themselves, but to dwell in
them by His Holy Spirit, and to enter into the third heaven and to
be there for their good. Salvation is in Him, in Him alone, in Him
completely and immovably firm.
    
        With the abundance of Thy house
        We shall be satisfied,
        From rivers of unfailing joy
        Our thirst shall be supplied.
    
    From earth Christ was lifted up to heaven before the eyes of His
disciples, from the Mount of Olives to the third heaven, to the
throne of God. "We have a great High Priest that is passed into the
heavens." "He is ascended up far above all heavens." How could
Luther speak of the omnipresent body of Christ! Is it not stated
expressly that Christ sits at the right hand of God, did not the
angels, that stood by them when the cloud closed heaven before their
eyes, testify clearly "This Jesus is taken up from you into heaven?"
How could Luther erase the line between the Creator and the
creature? You see, Luther was human, and he erred in the matter of
the ascension. For Christ with soul and body ascended to heaven, and
is there for the good of His people, until He returns to judge the
quick and the dead.
    
    The ascension of the Lord was more than Enoch's and Elijah's
going up to heaven. By His ascension Christ unlocked the closed
heavens for His people. His ascension is the beginning of eternal
glory for which He prepares His people. "Behold," said He, "I go to
prepare a place for you." He is there for the good of His people
until He returns. "For one day He shall come Whom the heaven must
receive until the times of restitution of all things," Peter said,
in accordance with what the angels had said. He is coming again.
When that shall happen no one knows but the Father alone. Any-one
who wants to determine the time of His return will certainly be
mistaken, and delves profanely into the secrets of God. Scripture
tells us nothing of the time of that return, but it speaks much of
the fact, and Christ did command His disciples to preach and "to
testify that it is He which was ordained of God to be the Judge of
quick and dead." (Acts 10) Then the last of the elect shall have
been brought in, the last sheaf shall have been gathered into the
barn; then, all unexpectedly, in the midst of the pouring out of
dreadful wickedness the Lord shall come surrounded by His thousand
times thousand angels. It will be a terrible day for all the wicked,
but a day of eternal glory for all God's elect. Yet the Lord, when
He ascended into heaven, did not break the promise that He would
remain with His people to the end, but confirmed it, as we shall now
hear in the second place.
    
    II
    
    Until the great day of judgment comes, Christ remains in heaven
at His Father's right hand, and is not on earth, neither will He
come on earth bodily, not even for a thousand years. We do not
believe in a millennium. Christ is and remains in heaven until the
great day of judgment.
    
    Is not Christ then with us even to the end of the world, as He
has promised? How must we understand it that Jesus promised His
disciples as He led them out of Jerusalem, "Lo, I am with you alway,
even unto the end of the world," and when He had scarcely said this,
He departed, never to return to earth again? How can these two
statements be reconciled: "I am with you" and "I ascend unto My
Father"? The disciples needed the Lord's presence. They would go and
preach the gospel to every creature; they had to travel a road of
severe trials, so severe that they could not travel alone; they
awaited what Christ Himself had told them, that they would be
brought before kings and rulers. That would not be so bad if the
Lord were with them. It was their strength and comfort and liberty:
"I am with you." Does Christ now break His promise? Is He then not
with His people as He promised? No, it cannot be that the Lord would
break His promise. "My plighted word I will not break, nor change
the promise that I spake." He promised and He remains with His
people. But His presence is no more bodily. "Christ is very man and
very God. With respect to His human nature, He is no more on earth,
but with respect to His Godhead, majesty, grace and spirit, He is at
no time absent from us."
    
    That is just where Luther erred that he would have Christ to be
present bodily; he sought comfort for the people in the bodily
presence, while on the contrary the comfort lies in the spiritual
presence. The great reformer then came to the doctrine that when
Christ ascended His body became omnipresent, just as His Godhead is.
Thus according to Luther, Christ's human nature is not in the third
heaven and only there, but His human nature is wherever the Godhead
is, omnipresent. Luther denies the ascension of Christ. This error
led to the error of consubstantiation, the bodily presence of Christ
with the elements in the Lord's Supper. That Lutherans doctrine of
the omnipresence of Christ's body is entirely contrary to Scripture,
and testifies of a lack of understanding of the rich comfort of
Christ's spiritual presence with His people. That spiritual presence
is more than the bodily presence. Therefore it was expedient that He
departed.
    
    This was evident in the lives of the disciples and of the whole
church of God. When the Lord was on earth with His disciples and
sojourned with them for three years, He not only gave them to know
Him as the Son of God, which He truly was, but He also gave them so
many evidences of His love, that they could not leave Him. Although
large numbers left Him because His doctrine was too hard, they
testified, "To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life." Yet they lacked too much the appropriation by faith of their
precious and blessed Mediator. Still it is often so with those who
are no strangers of the Lord.
    
    The enjoyments of love are often stronger than the exercises of
faith. Therefore it happens, although the Lord never departs from
His people, there can be such a feeling of being forsaken that the
power of faith does not break through to trust in Him Who ascended
to heaven, and yet with respect to His Godhead, majesty, grace and
Spirit is never absent from the church He has bought so dearly. He
Himself has said, "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world." "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Herein lies a
fountain of comfort for God's people, and if the light of the Spirit
shines upon it, that the Lord Jesus did ascend to heaven according
to His human nature with soul and body, and will fulfill His promise
to His people surely and in every need, then virtue goes out from
Him to make God's children hope in Him in the greatest darkness and
adversities.
    
    Help has been laid upon One that is mighty to save. God's people
are not left alone in the world; the Lord has not ascended into
heaven to leave His people to themselves. He took them with Him and
as the omnipresent One He remains with them. He not only made
atonement for their guilt, and justified them in His resurrection,
but also brought them back into communion with His Father. That is
the great significance of the ascension of Christ, and they who may
appropriate this by faith may cry out by the Spirit of adoption,
"Abba, Father." The ascension, visibly, truly, and locally, had to
follow the resurrection from the dead.
    
    Therefore the human nature of the Lord is in heaven, where the
throne of God is, and the holy angels, and the redeemed. It is there
only, confined to one place. His Godhead is omnipresent, in heaven
and also outside of heaven - everywhere. His human nature is hence
only in heaven and not everywhere where His Godhead is. Thus it is
written in Acts 3:21: "Whom the heaven must receive until the times
of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of
all His holy prophets since the world began."
    
    Now however the question arises which the instructor answers in
the third place, "But if His human nature is not present wherever
His Godhead is, are not then these two natures in Christ separated
from one another?"
    
    On the contrary
    
    III
    
by the ascension of Christ the union of the two natures is
perpetuated.
    
    There is no question of separating the two natures. "Not at
all," says our Catechism. That would have destroyed His entire work
of redemption. The two natures of Christ are most closely united, so
that He who has two natures is one Person, the Second Person in the
Godhead; the Son of God. Because of that close union of the Divine
and human nature it follows that the Son of God suffered, died,
arose, ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of God, in our
flesh and blood. It is that fact that gave everlasting value and
virtue to the atoning and redeeming work which He undertook for the
salvation of lost sinners. If you separate the two natures of
Christ, you attack the entire work of salvation wrought by Him.
Those two natures cannot be separated, even in death they remain
united, neither were they separated by the ascension. Some make that
objection, but it is not so. "For since the Godhead is illimitable
and omnipresent, it must necessarily follow that the same is beyond
the limits of the human nature He assumed, and yet is nevertheless
in this human nature, and remains personally united to it."
    
    It was already thus in the manger. The assumed human nature was
not omnipresent; it lay there in deepest disdain, but was also
united with the omnipresent Divine Person. What was born of Mary is
the Son of God. Hence from birth the human nature was not everywhere
where the Godhead is, and still there was an inseparable union in
one single person. We have one Mediator, and that one Mediator has
two natures: the human nature, like unto us in all things, sin
excepted, and limited to one place, and the divine nature, filling
heaven and earth.
    
    Thus it was before, thus it was in, and thus it was after the
ascension. The Godhead is not only there where the human nature is,
but also apart from it, everywhere, and still it is also in that
human nature, entirely and perfectly, and personally united to it.
According to His human nature, Christ is not on earth any more: "Now
I am no more in the world." But with respect to His Godhead,
majesty, grace and Spirit, He is, and He is at no time absent from
us. Thus His promise is fulfilled, "I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the world." With respect to His Godhead He remains with
us, "The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool." (Isa.
66:1). "Am I a God at hand, and not a God afar off?" That divine
presence is full of majesty and grace. How beautifully that was
foreshadowed in Israel, as the Lord loved Zion more than all the
dwellings of Jacob. Upon Zion's mountain Jehovah's majesty shone so
clearly that the poet sang,
    
        "Forth from Thy holy dwelling
        Thy awful glories shine."
    
    In that majesty the people rejoiced with adoration and with
trembling. That majesty lies upon the grace of God in Christ. The
ministry of grace is also full of majesty. That causes God's people
to fear humbly, and to be filled with and speak of the grace of God
with holy reverence. Let us not speak lightly of grace, it is full
of God's majesty. But that majesty is also without terror.
    
    Christ is with His people with His grace, with His pardoning;
reconciling and comforting grace. Day by day, also after having
received grace we make ourselves worthy of rejection, but the grace
with which Christ remains with His people covers the iniquity and
purifies their hearts. That grace is the inexhaustible fountain for
the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; thereby we have
access to God's sanctuary and liberty of heart. That grace of Christ
is the rod and staff of comfort. With respect to His Godhead,
majesty, grace and Spirit, the Lord is never absent from us. He sent
that Spirit as an abiding Comforter: "I will pray the Father and He
shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you
forever, even the Spirit of truth."
    
    Oh, how wonderful it is, the fact that Christ the Lord remains
with us, gives us strength to run the race that is set before us.
Sometimes such dark clouds hang over the ways God's children must
travel, they are sometimes so distressed. "If it had not been the
Lord Who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they had
swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us, then
the waters had overwhelmed us." How David complained that when God
hid His face he was troubled. When the light of God shines over our
tents we cannot imagine that such times of darkness, of desertion,
of the power of sin, and of being unreconciled to God's dealings can
come. Oh, if then the Lord Jesus had not remained with us, we would
have perished, if then He had not crowned His own work, it would
have failed. When Satan desired to sift the disciples as wheat, the
Lord said, "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." In
that intercession God's church lies safe, and one little evidence of
the Lord's nearness is enough to make us lift up our head and to
walk in liberty. If only He would speak to our soul, "I am thy
salvation." Also now in the deepest darkness, in the sense of the
most grievous desertion and in all the tumult of hell, the Lord is
near His own. However deep their way, He is never absent from them.
With Him Paul and Silas could not only endure imprisonment, but
could even rise above the pain of the stripes laid upon them and
sing praises unto God.
    
    The Lord was with Peter, opening the prison doors for him, and
leading him past the guards in answer to the prayer sent up by the
church through the Spirit of prayer. Through the strength of Christ,
Stephen while dying could pray for his enemies. John, the exile on
Patmos, found his banishment sweet because of the presence of the
Godhead, majesty, grace and Spirit of Christ. And is a way of
sickness, unemployment, poverty, persecution or what it may be, ever
too hard for God's people to tread when the Lord is with them? Even
in death the Lord will not forsake His people. "Though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." He
Who swallows up death in victory has caused His people to experience
His presence so powerfully (have you not known such deathbeds?),
although their life had been full of conflicts and cares, yet an
abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom was prepared for them.
Oh, some of them departed from us singing, and encouraging those
left behind; for the comfort of the presence of Christ was so great
that the terror of death had to flee. No, the Lord is not with us
any more with respect to His human nature, nor is that necessary any
more; but with respect to His Godhead, majesty, grace and Spirit, He
is never absent from us. Oh, how profitable the ascension is for the
church of God. Her songs of praise were sung to Him of old and,
before we close, we will sing with her Psalter No. 418, St. 2:
    
         "God has gone on high,
         With a joyful cry;
         Hosts with trumpet sound
         Make His praise abound;
         Sing ye praise to God,
         Tell His fame abroad,
         Take a psalm and shout,
         Let His praise ring out,
         Lift your voice and sing
         Glory to our King
         He is Lord of earth,
         Magnify His worth."
    
    There remains for us to notice, in the fourth place, the
advantage that the ascension gives to God's people.
    
    IV
    
    "Of what advantage to us is Christ's ascension into heaven?"
asks the 49th question. Then the answer gives us three points:
    
    1. that He is our Advocate in the presence of His Father in
         heaven;
    
    2. that we have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge;
    
    3. that He sends us His Spirit as an earnest.
    
    That advantage is only for God's people, for those who in
eternity were given to Christ by the Father. Oh, I cannot repeat it
often enough that the mediatorial work of Christ both in the state
of His humiliation and in the state of His exaltation is only for
the benefit of His elect. Do not let this frighten you, for the Lord
Jesus took His own out of the deep state of death and glorifies them
in heaven. If they arrive there through Him only by grace, then
every fig leaf is taken away from every one that is still living in
the day of grace. Oh it should impel us day and night to seek
salvation in Him alone Who has opened heaven for lost sinners. May
God sanctify the truth to your hearts and cause you to understand
that we have closed heaven by our sins and are walking to hell, so
that we driven by our need may seek that only Mediator, Who is
sitting at the right hand of the Father, and be reconciled to God by
Him and be restored into His fellowship. How terrible it would be to
die soon and then to find heaven locked forever. May the Lord bless
His Word to your souls and open your eyes to see the advantage of
the ascension of Christ for His people.
    
    He is their Advocate. Pleading upon His finished mediatorial
work, He demands of the Father all that they need in time and all
that they shall one day need to make their salvation complete.
    
    He could not be that Advocate had He remained on earth. "For,"
says the Apostle in Hebrews 8: 4, "if He were on earth He should not
be a priest." In heaven God's elect have an Advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous. Did not the High Priest enter
the Holy of Holies to pray there after he had offered a sacrifice in
the Court outside? And did not that ceremony point to Christ Who
offered the sacrifice outside on Calvary, and then entered the
sanctuary not made with hands, that is heaven, to be the Intercessor
and Advocate for His people?
    
    There in heaven He presents His sacrifice to the Father as an
everlasting offering to take away all the sins of His people; there
in heaven He bears the needs of His church. "For we have not a high
priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities:
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." In
all points. He wept at the grave of Lazarus; He was wearied; He was
hungry and thirsty; He was very sorrowful; He can sympathize with
His people when they must wear clothes of mourning; He understands
their complaint when they pour out their mourning soul before Him.
He knows the weariness that comes upon the church and when the way
becomes too much for them, He is able and willing to strengthen
them. He strengtheneth His people. He gives the needy food and
drink, and comforts those that are heavy of heart. He is the
sympathetic High Priest; their Advocate in heaven, so that by Him
the Father's unchangeable love is declared to them and is poured out
in their souls. Indeed, since He has brought our flesh into heaven,
it is certain that His people shall arrive there.
    
    He has rent the heavens, those heavens were barred by sin,
barred forever for all of Adam's posterity. Not one of them would
ever enter life. But, lo, Christ assumed the human nature and
brought that nature, our soul and our body, into heaven. He the Head
of the Church is in heaven, and now the body, that is His church,
shall certainly follow. That is the advantage of the ascension of
Christ, "that we have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that He,
as the Head, will also take up to Himself, us, His members." "In My
Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that
where I am, there ye may be also." His entrance into the sanctuary
is a sure pledge of the salvation of the church, her signet, her
bracelets and her staff.
    
    How shall our soul lift itself up to Him Who ascended into
heaven; how shall we on earth have communion with Him Who is at
God's right hand? Oh, no, not in our own strength; that is
impossible, but He sends us His Spirit as an earnest, by whose power
we "seek the things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the
right hand of God, and not things on earth." He promised that He
would not leave them comfortless, and He fulfilled it on Pentecost.
He gave His Spirit to dwell in them. And that Spirit which dwells in
their hearts lifts up their souls to seek the things that are above.
We are of the earth earthy. Of ourselves we seek the things on
earth. Yet that shall never satisfy us. Oh, how the life of God's
children suffers from being earthly minded! How the fine gold has
become dim. In our materialistic age the church has also become too
worldly. God's people live too low, their life should be above,
where Christ is. When they may lift themselves up they are in their
natural sphere. The dust of the world chokes them.
    
    How unutterably wonderful it must have been, not only for the
angels, but especially for the saints already in heaven, when they
saw their Lord and King enter victoriously and take place at the
Father's right hand. Then the heavens rejoiced and the trumpets
sounded; angels and saints greeted Him full of heavenly joy. Thus,
oh, purchased people, your soul, too, shall see Him and bring in
perfect joy, glory and honour to Him Who went to prepare your place
for you. The ascension of your Lord is a pledge of your entrance
into the heaven of heavens to partake forever of that salvation
which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor has it entered into the
heart of man, namely, that which God has prepared to those that fear
Him. Amen.





The Heavenly Glory of Christ

Lord's Day 19


Psalter No. 414 St. 2
Read Rev. 6
Psalter No. 181 St. 2, 3
Psalter No. 424 St. 4
Psalter No. 195 St. 2, 3, 4


Beloved,

    What a revelation of Christ's eternal triumph was given to the
apostle John on Patmos when he heard one of the four beasts say as
with a noise of thunder, "Come and see." "And I saw and behold a
white horse; and He that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given
unto Him; and He went forth, conquering and to conquer." The Lamb
that was found worthy to take the book of God's counsel that was
sealed with seven seals, and to open its seals - that Lamb, slain
before the foundation of the world had opened the first seal of that
book. All the saints and the four beasts that represent the entire
creation and the twenty-four elders, twelve representing the Old and
twelve representing the New Testament, in whom therefore the entire
elect church is comprehended, worshipped the Lamb, giving Him honour
and glory. The Lamb, that was slain; that in the fulness of time
gave Himself into the hands of His enemies, with Whom they could do
as they pleased; the Lamb that being nailed on the cross humbled
Himself unto death, that Lamb now sits on the white horse of His
victory, and bears the crown that was given Him. For He is the King
of kings and the Lord of lords. His victory is indicated by the
colour of His horse upon which He proceeds, conquering and to
conquer.
    
    He is risen from the dead and has destroyed him who had the
power of death, that is the devil. Death could not hold Him. On the
morning of the third day He arose from the grave. When the angel
from heaven, His servant, descended, the earth quaked upon its
foundations, His enemies fled and became as dead men. He triumphs
eternally and saves His people from death. Yea, He has ascended to
heaven. All evil spirits of the air fled before Him and He took His
place at the right hand of His Father. There John sees Him in the
spirit. From there He works and He rides upon the white horse of His
victory throughout the entire world.
    
    He had a bow from which he shoots the arrows into the heart of
the King's enemies that His people may bow before Him and surrender
to Him. With His sword He will crush His enemies. He will break them
with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
But those that were purchased by His blood, those that were given to
Him by the Father, those He shall wound with an arrow from His bow.
He shall take away their heart of stone and give them a heart of
flesh. He shall pluck them from the claws of Satan and break the
enmity of their heart in order that they may learn to know and
acknowledge Him as their Lord and King. He shall wound the head of
their enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goes on still in
his trespasses. In Him they shall conquer. From day to day He goes
forth through the world to save by the foolishness of preaching
those that believe. To that end He sits at the right hand of His
Father, exalted to the highest power and glory. No enemy shall
hinder His progress for all are conquered and made His footstool.
    
    In whatever distress His church may be, whether they must go
through water or through fire, He shall deliver it, and continue His
conquering work until the last elect shall have been brought in. Oh
how great then for God's upright people is the comfort that lies in
the heavenly glory, which Christ obtained when He took His place at
the Father's right hand and which shall fully be revealed when He
returns one day to judge the quick and the dead.
    
    To that heavenly glory of Christ we would draw your attention as
we consider the nineteenth Lord's Day of our Heidelberg Catechism.
    
    Lord's Day 19
    
Q. 50. Why is it added, "and sitteth at the right hand of God"?

A. Because Christ is ascended into heaven for this end, that He
    might appear as head of His church, by whom the Father governs
    all things.

Q. 51: What profit is this glory of Christ, our head, unto us?

A. First, that by His Holy Spirit He pours out heavenly graces upon
    us His members; and then that by His power He defends and
    preserves us against all enemies.

Q. 52: What comfort is it to thee that "Christ shall come again to
    judge the quick and the dead"?

    A. That in all my sorrows and persecutions, with uplifted head I
look for the very same person, who before offered himself for my
sake, to the tribunal of God, and has removed all curse from me, to
come as judge from heaven; who shall cast all his and my enemies
into everlasting condemnation, but shall translate me with all his
chosen ones to himself, into heavenly joys and glory.
    
    Hence we must now speak of the heavenly glory of Christ,
    
      I. in His sitting at God's right hand;
    
     II. in His work for His elect, and
    
    III. in His return for judgment.
    
    After the instructor has spoken to us of the exaltation of the
Lord in the resurrection and ascension, he draws our attention to
the glory that Messiah has at the right hand of His Father, and that
He shall one day display perfectly when He comes upon the clouds to
judge the quick and the dead. In the viewing of this glory of the
Mediator the instructor is not merely objective, but he also points
to the profit God's people receive from this glory.
    
    In the first place we are instructed concerning the Lord's glory
in His sitting at God's right hand. The Twelve Articles of Faith
point particularly at His sitting at God's right hand after speaking
of the ascension of Christ, and the Catechism inquires about the
"why" of that addition so that the glory of the exalted Mediator
shall shine forth the more. For in His ascension the fellowship
between Him and His church on earth is not broken, as we already
heard in the previous Lord's Day. On the contrary, the Lord remains
with His people with His majesty, grace and Spirit, but He entered
heaven and shall not be seen on earth anymore before His return. But
His glory is profitable for His purchased church, and they must not
only consider the fact of His ascension, but must continuously by
faith see Him sitting at God's right hand, so that by His power they
shall seek the things which are above, and that their conversation
should be in heaven where their Head and Lord is. That is why it is
added: "and sitteth at the right hand of God."
    
    But we must not take that expression literally, for God is a
Spirit (John 4:24), and hence has no body, nor a right hand. Sitting
at His right hand is the highest glory given to the Mediator by the
Father. Is not the right hand the place of honour? Solomon, "the
king rose up to meet his mother, and bowed himself unto her and sat
down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king's
mother; and she sat on his right hand." How the king honored his
mother! Thus we also sing of the glory of the heavenly Bridegroom
and His bride: "Upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of
Ophir."
    
    At the right hand is the place of honour. In Scripture God's
power and majesty are often spoken of as His right hand. "The right
hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does
valiantly." Christ then was promised the highest honour and glory
when it was said that He would sit at God's right hand. "The Lord
said unto my Lord, sit Thou at My right hand until I make thy
enemies Thy footstool." (Ps. 110:1). The Lord spoke of that glory to
the high priest, "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on
the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds in heaven" (Matth.
26:64), while Paul in the epistle to the Hebrews lets the full light
fall upon this glory as a glory far above that of the holy angels:
"To which of the angels said He at anytime, Sit on My right hand"?
After the deepest humiliation Christ is crowned with honour and
glory above all creatures. The Father has glorified Him with the
glory which He had before the world was. In heaven the angels which
remained standing and the saved elect always give Him honour, and
the fact that He sits at God's right hand should continually inspire
His dear people to sing psalms to His Name. The revelation of His
glory caused John on Patmos to fall at His feet as dead, and
everyone who by the grace of God may see Him in His heavenly glory
with spiritual eyes bows in the dust before Him. "Exalt the Lord our
God, and worship at His holy hill; for the Lord our God is holy"
(Psalm 99:9).
    
    There in heaven whence He ascended and where according to His
human nature He remains until the end of time He is said to sit. We
also read of Stephen that he "looked up steadfastly into heaven, and
saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God."
    
    It makes no difference in the glory of Jesus itself whether He
is said to sit or to stand, but there is a difference for God's
people in the exercises of the soul with respect to that glory. He
stands so that also with His heavenly glory He may serve His church,
always ready to help her, taking her up in glory in the hour of
death. His sitting denotes the sweet rest which the Mediator now
enjoys after having finished His labors perfectly. The priest of the
Old Testament stood in the sanctuary; their work was never finished,
the blood of bulls and of goats could not satisfy God's justice. But
this priest after the order of Melchizedec gave perfect
satisfaction. He sits in eternal glory, resting with divine
contentment. Thus as Mediator He shares in the full love, favour,
and fellowship with His Father.
    
    Do not consider this the glorification of the Son as of the
Second Person in the Godhead, but of Him as Mediator, for the glory
of God itself cannot be decreased, nor increased. As surety He was
forsaken by His Father, but after completion of His work which was
laid upon Him, He was taken up in His Father's eternal favour. In
heaven Christ sits upon His throne "For He must reign till He has
put all enemies under His feet" (I Cor. 15:25). Thus He rests in
subjugating all His enemies, ministered unto by the angels, and
glorified by those who were bought with His blood, and have entered
into glory. "And He has on His vesture and on His thigh a name
written, 'King of kings, and Lord of lords'" (Rev. 19:16).
"Wherefore God also has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name
which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:9-11). In
accordance therewith our Catechism says, "Because Christ is ascended
into heaven for this end that He might appear as Head of His church,
by Whom the Father governs all things."
    
    He was the Head of His church, also before His exaltation. He
was that from eternity; as such the church was elected in Him. The
church on earth was never without its Head; how could she have
existed? But when has Christ begun to show more especially, more
decisively and more domineeringly (to His enemies) that He is the
Head of His church? When He was glorified at His Father's right
hand. Out of His glory He would especially prove Himself to be the
Head. "And He is the Head of the body, the church; Who is the
beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might
have the prominence" (Col. 1:18). How this shines forth in the
spreading of the Gospel, the middle wall of partition lies broken,
and He brings in His elect out of both Jews and Gentiles. The hour
is come, of which He spoke to the seeking Greeks, when the Son of
man shall be glorified in bringing forth fruit as the corn of wheat
brings forth fruit when it dies. Since He has been sitting at the
right hand of the Father, He has brought the other sheep which were
not of the Jewish fold, and it shall be one fold and one Shepherd.
In every sinner that bows before the King of Heaven we can see that
Christ is the Head of the church, by Whom all that the Father has
given Him shall be brought in. That Head guides and governs the
body. Thus it shall be as Paul says, "From whom the whole body fitly
joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth,
according to the effectual working in the measure of every part,
maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."
(Eph. 4).
    
    That is also the purpose of the government of the glorified
Mediator. He is the Head to govern. His church is subject to Him.
"For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head
of the church; and He is Savior of the body. Therefore as the church
is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in
everything." That government is for the salvation of His people. The
true freedom lies in subjection to Christ. In this government the
church is also safe. "Even He shall build the temple of the Lord,
and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne;
and He shall be a priest upon His throne; and the counsel of peace
shall be between them both." However not only the church is subject
to Him, but the Father governs all things by Him. "All power is
given unto Me in heaven and in earth." Nothing and no one escapes
the government of Christ.
    
    The holy angels are His servants, sent forth to minister to them
who shall be heirs of salvation; and the spiritual wickedness in
high places as well as the powers of hell, and the raging powers of
magistrates and nobles, all both in heaven and on earth, all is
subject to Him; the Father governs all things by Him. He is set at
the Father's right hand in heavenly places, "far above all
principality, and power, and might and dominion, and every name that
is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come;
and has put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head
over all things to the church, which is His body, and the fulness of
Him that filleth all in all."
    
    Mark well, beloved, the great distinction in exercising the
government of Zion's King. Of Him Simeon already spoke in the
temple, "This Child is set for the fall and rising again of many in
Israel", and that word is confirmed in the government of Him to Whom
the Father gave all power in heaven and on earth. He shall break His
enemies with a rod of iron. "Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a
potter's vessel." And those enemies are not only the openly profane,
mockers, drunkards, adulterers, but by nature we are all enemies of
God and Christ, you and I; and with us all others who were brought
up and remained under the Word of God, also the Orphan, the Arabs
who humbled themselves before God, but whose heart remained
unrenewed. All of us await the judgment of Him by Whom the Father
governs all things. On the other hand, by regenerating grace He
brings His people under His blessed government for their salvation.
He saves their souls from death and He preserves them and governs
them that no enemy shall harm them.
    
    Christ exercises that royal dominion in the administration of
His Holy Spirit and by means of the preaching of the Gospel. Thus He
rules in the midst of His enemies by the rod of His strength out of
Zion. (Psalm 110:2). He rides upon the white horse of His victory
and has a bow in His hand, and a crown was given unto Him, and He
went forth, conquering, and to conquer. By the strength of His
Spirit and Word He goes forth through the world. His people glory in
Him: "The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is
our King." He gives His people the laws by which He Himself governs
them, thus fulfilling His promise: "I will put My law in their
inward parts, and write it in their hearts" (Jer. 31:33). Thus He
causes them to walk in the midst of the paths of judgment, and saves
them out of all dangers, so that not one that was given Him by the
Father shall be lost. He cares for them as their Head. He can also
save them, since not anything in heaven nor on earth can resist Him.
Therefore He can also comfort His disciples, "The gates of hell
shall not prevail against My Church", and therefore not one of His
people shall be lost. "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand."
Christ is also the representative Head of His people. With Him they
are made to sit in heaven, and He presents them which were His
delights from eternity to His Father as a chaste virgin, not having
spot or wrinkle, so that the Father Himself declares. "Hephzibah"
(Isa. 64:2) which means, "My delight is in her." Oh, glorious
Immanuel!
    
    To that end then the Lord Jesus sits at God's right hand that He
might appear as Head of His church, by Whom the Father governs all
things.
    
    That glory and dominion, however, the Lord did not obtain for
Himself. He was, is, and remains very God, the Almighty. He became
His Father's Servant, and bought His people with His blood and sits
at the Father's right hand for the benefit of His people. They
receive all the benefit and profit. Thus we come in the second place
to the consideration of the heavenly glory of Christ
    
    II
    
in His work for His elect.
    
    As the Third Person of the ever blessed Godhead, God the Holy
Spirit distributes various gifts, even to the reprobates. But those
are natural gifts of sciences and arts, and even of common
convictions. But as the Spirit Whose work of grace has been merited
by Christ, He grants heavenly gifts. Sometimes He distributes to His
people extraordinary gifts, as those given to the apostles at
Pentecost when they began to speak in tongues, and also after that
when they performed signs and wonders in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Especially does the glorified Head of His church pour out in
His members the heavenly gifts by which they receive communion with
Him for salvation. The most important work of the Holy Spirit is to
glorify Christ.
    
    The second question of the nineteenth Lord's Day speaks of this.
The question, "What profit is this glory of Christ our Head, unto
us?" is answered thus by our instructor, "First, that by His Holy
Spirit He pours out heavenly graces upon us His members." Christ's
mediatorial work must be glorified in us. Alas, what good will the
glorification of the blessed Emmanuel do us if we have no part with
Him? He took His church to heaven with Him; He has placed His own at
the right hand of the Father; in Him as their Head they are
glorified. Christ must work out this representative glorification in
their heart. Although God's elect partake of all salvation in
Christ, nevertheless, by nature they are estranged from God, and
they hasten on to eternal perdition. Now notice what profit they
obtain here on earth out of the glory of Christ their Head. He pours
out the heavenly graces in them by His Holy Spirit. That Spirit He
sent from His Father on Pentecost. Only after He had entered His
glory could the Holy Spirit come; but then He did come, and it is
the Holy Spirit Who applies to those that are purchased by Christ
that which they have in Christ, Who pours out the heavenly graces in
them; Who glorifies Christ in them.
    
    In him who was a stranger both to God and to his state of
misery, God works a knowledge of God and of self. He plants in the
soul faith which we all lack, however fine our confession may be. He
opens for the poor embarrassed sinner the room there is in the
mediatorial work of Christ and causes the wearied soul to hear the
Savior's invitation, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest." He works true communion between
Christ and His people and grants them to enjoy the happiness and
blessed comfort. He causes them to hate sin, inclines the heart to
holiness and makes them walk in God's law. "I will put my law in
their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their
God, and they shall be My people." That Spirit assures them of their
reconciliation with God in Christ, and restores them into communion
with God. And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of
His Son into your hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father'" (Gal. 4:6).
    
    Among the heavenly graces patience is also included, for the
Lord knows that His people need it, since they must go through many
tribulations to enter the Kingdom of heaven. In short, in those
heavenly graces which Christ pours out upon His people by the Holy
Spirit, are included all the things that belong to the obtaining of
salvation and to the preparation for glory. He pours it out in such
an abundant measure that Isaiah prophecies concerning it: "I will
pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground."
Oh, that is why the prophets have testified so gloriously of the
glory of Christ. How David sang of that glory when the ark was
brought up to Zion, for it was on that occasion that Psalm 68 was
written, "Thou hast ascended on high, Thou has led captivity
captive; Thou has received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious
also, that the Lord might dwell among them." How much more then
should the liberated church rejoice in these gifts of her glorified
Head. Alas, God's people live so little in the liberty that is in
Christ; unbelief and doubt, lack of the fear of God and whatever
other reasons there may be, prevent her living in the state given
her by Christ.
    
    Still there is in the graces of the Holy Spirit such a fulness
for utterly miserable sinners. Here it is, "Eat, O friends; drink,
yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." Here is food for the hungry,
righteousness for the guilty, here are the wells of water springing
up into everlasting life, if only our soul may come by faith to the
glory of Christ. Oh, what a privilege it is if we may truly
understand by faith the mediatorial suffering and death of the Lord,
and may receive healing out of His stripes. If God's people may know
themselves to be in Christ, sitting at God's right hand, then they
exclaim with Paul, "Yea, rather That is risen again, Who is even at
the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us." "Him
has God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for
to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins."
    
    In that exaltation the church is also safe, in spite of the
bitterest opposition. Christ manifests His glory to His enemies by
preserving His people. "That by His power He defends and preserves
us against all enemies," says the instructor. Against all enemies.
Oh, they are so very many that hate God's church and in the service
of Satan roam about to destroy God's people, if that were possible.
They are the evil spirits about us and above us, the rulers in the
air; they are the God-dishonoring thoughts thrown by the powers of
darkness into the hearts of God's children to distress them; the
terrors of Satan with whom they wrestle while God hides His face. It
is the world that hates God's children with their terrible powers,
because they are not of the world. It is sin that opposes our life,
not only outside of us, in friend or relative, in our home and in
our child, but that works also in our own heart to draw us away from
God's commandments, among which is the terrible unbelief that doubts
God and His grace. From without and from within the work of God is
attacked, and the church is distressed.
    
    But never fear! There is a mighty Helper. By His power Christ
defends and preserves. That power is a power, to which all must
yield, both in heaven and on earth, and under which all enemies
shall be crushed forever. Christ rules in the midst of His enemies.
Why then should the church of God fear? Alas, sometimes all things
seem to come at once, internal and external forces joining hands and
threatening destruction and death. If then Christ in His glory shows
Himself, if it be only through the lattice, then, oh, then all must
flee. Then Satan releases his hold; then the violence of the world
does not harm; then sin is held under. Yea, then the soul by faith
agrees once more that Christ in glory defends and preserves His own.
Then God's people sing:
    
        "Thou knowest all my woes,
        O treasure Thou my tears;
        Are they not in Thy book
        Where all my life appears?
        My foes shall backward turn
        When I appeal to Thee,
        For this I surely know,
        That God is still with me."
    
    In the hard battle which must be fought to the end by those that
shall be saved, only the glorified Emmanuel upholds them and His
unconquerable strength leads them on to victory. In that strength
God's people shall go into the midst of the battle and shall not
turn back.
    
    "We lift our heads aloft, for God, our shield, is o'er us;
    Through Him, through Him alone, whose presence goes before us,
    We'll wear the victor's crown, no more by foes assaulted,
    We'll triumph through our King, by Israel's God exalted."
    
    No, for God's children there is no danger. They do not fight to
win the battle, but the victory has been attained by their eternal
King, who triumphs in unspeakable glory at His Father's right hand
and defends them, guards them, and leads them surely to eternal
triumph. Everywhere and always the enemy lost the battle, whether
through Pharaoh he wants to destroy Israel in Egypt, or whether he
calls Balaam to curse the people, or whether through Rabshakeh he
rages at the gates of Jerusalem, or whether he threatens their
destruction in Babylon by Belshazzar, always he loses the battle;
his prey is taken away, the serpent's head is bruised, although for
the benefit of God's people the prince of darkness is permitted to
wage the severe battle which he carries on with his last breath.
This caused Luther to sing,
    
        "The prince of darkness grim,
        We tremble not for him;
        His rage we can endure,
        For lo! his doom is sure,
        One little word shall fell him."
    
    Out of the glory of its Head the church is comforted in the
fearful battle of life, but the church is also called to be active.
Internally it must fight against sin, and externally it must carry
forth the holy principle of the Word of God. No, God's children may
not seek to avoid the conflict, they may not leave the nations,
church and school to the godless. They are called by their King to
take their arms to fight in the consciousness of His power, the
battle which shall end in their victory. Our nation would never have
fallen away so far if the people of God had been more faithful in
following their King. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give
thee a crown of life", said the Lord to His church at Smyrna.
    
    What great profit then the glory of the Head brings to His
church. Truly the fact that He is at the right hand of His Father
where He appears as Head of His Christian church, by Whom the Father
governs all things is more than His death.
    
    Cast your eye not only on high, but also into the future,
perhaps in the distant but still in the certain future, in which the
work of the Lord for the salvation of His own will be completed. He
Who has departed shall come again, and that return of Christ shall
be the crown upon His work and shall bring perfect salvation to His
people. Of this glory of Christ the instructor speaks in the last
question, saying, "What comfort is it to thee that 'Christ shall
come again to judge the quick and the dead'"? Thus we have come to
our last main thought, by which we
    
    III
    
view the heavenly glory of Christ in His return to judgment.
    
    Ah, I know that thousands and thousands ridicule this most
important doctrine of our Christian religion. More and more people
are turning away from the expectation of eternal bliss and dream of
an earthly paradise. Heine sang for his socialistic friends, "We
want to bring a paradise upon this earth below, and here enjoy true
happiness."
    
    Thus they show that they are truly of the earth earthy; sunk
away in stark materialism, entirely blind and dead for the
spiritual, heavenly and eternal good that Christ merited for His
own, and of which He shall some day make them partakers for ever. Is
it strange that man who tries to make himself entirely loose from
the Word of God, and seeks to quench the spark of the knowledge of
God that still glimmers within him, does not cast his eye to heaven
to expect Christ? Is it strange that the clouds that he sees day by
day and upon which the Mediator ascended to heaven, do not speak to
him any more of the return of Him Who shall judge the quick and the
dead? So many generations have already cast their eyes on high and
waited, but, in vain; the unhappy ones reason, considering the long
suffering of God slackness, until it becomes evident, and they shall
experience that God is not slack concerning His promise, but shall
judge also the wicked, whose scoffing shall end in eternal
destruction where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
    
    No, there in that burning fire the atheist shall not be able to
deny God, as he did here; there his conscience will no more be
silent; there the hated Nazarene shall eternally be glorified in
their destruction. For this will be the worst part that Christ shall
cast all His and His people's enemies into eternal perdition. That
is not only the atheists and those who scoff at the return of
Christ; the line of separation which God draws does not lie between
the visible church and those who openly serve the world, but the
threshing floor of the church shall also be purged. The Lord shall
separate the wheat from the chaff. One day the chaff shall be burned
with unquenchable fire; all the open and secret enemies shall be
cast into eternal perdition. But God's elect shall be translated to
Himself into heavenly joys and glory.
    
    What comfort lies then in the return of Christ for those who are
no stranger to the grace of God. That awful day will be the day of
their eternal victory. When He was in the days of His flesh Christ
once placed Himself before God's bar for their sake, and took away
the curse that rested upon them, and reconciled them to God. There
is no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus. Shall not then
the enemy whose aim is to destroy God's people, be greatly
disappointed? They shall be cast into perdition from which
deliverance is impossible. They shall find their place in the fire
that shall not be quenched. But God's poor people shall be taken up
to Christ. That is the expectation that shall strengthen them in all
their sorrow and persecution. It shall not last forever. That shall
come to an end when God's people shall have served the Lord's
counsel. Then when also their body shall be quickened, they shall
enter into the joy of their Lord. "And the upright shall have
dominion over them in the morning." Oh, that the eye of God's people
were focused on the day of the Lord's coming, singing with the
church of old the psalter number we shall now sing together: No. 424
St. 4.
    
        "Let all the streams in joyous union
        Now clap their hands and praise accord," etc.
    
    Application
    
    Tremble, oh sinners. Cry, blasphemers and worldlings because of
your judgment. Quake, all ye unconverted of heart, even though you
live under the Word and have embraced a true doctrine. Christ
ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father, but
He will return. In that return He shall condemn you eternally,
unless you bow before God in this life and make supplication to your
judge.
    
    How much more impressive is the testimony of Christ's return in
these so serious times. The day of Christ's return shall surely
come. Upon that awful, majestic day the hope of God's children is
fixed. Marvel at it with strong yearning to be a partaker of the
blessed hope of God's people. For even now in this time state they
enjoy the comfort of that return, and one day they shall thereby
receive the full salvation. In this time state, says the Catechism,
the second coming of Christ comforts the Christian so "that in all
my sorrows and persecutions, with uplifted head I look for the very
same Person, who before offered Himself for my sake to the tribunal
of God, and has removed all curse from me, to come as judge from
heaven." Sorrows and persecution are the legacy of the church of
God, according to the will of its blessed King. "In the world ye
shall have tribulation," said He. Nothing shall alter this
arrangement of sovereign love. Through many tribulations, through
times of great distress the church with Christ its Head, goes forth
to its glory. And in sorrow and persecutions, in labor and
affliction, in illness and poverty, mourning and grief, the Lord
does not forsake His own.
    
    Then do let the wicked see that your hope is not in vain. The
poor world has nothing that can give real comfort. In afflictions
and trouble their head hangs low. Music, liquor, sports and
narcotics are needed to dull their grief. But, O ye that are bought
by the blood of the Lamb, lift up your heads and be encouraged in
your sorrows and persecutions, for your Lord and King is coming. Too
little does our soul look up to heaven. How much the church of God
is bound to the earth, and much she misses the comfort of which the
instructor teaches us. May true faith be strengthened, that our soul
may wait for the Lord as they that watch for the morning. Come,
people, examine yourselves, loosen the bonds that keep your soul
captive. Our very dark times in which the Lord evidently has a
controversy with the inhabitants of the world, make us hear the cry,
"The Bridegroom is coming," so that the wise virgins may awake and
not lag with the entire creation that "groans and with earnest
expectation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God.'
    
    That we also may expect Him Who "shall translate me with all His
chosen ones to Himself, into heavenly joys and glory." Oh, what that
will be! He shall wash away all tears from your eyes, sorrow and
sighing shall flee away forever. With a perfect soul and a glorified
body you shall serve your King eternally, without sin according to
the desire of your heart. Before the foundation of the world the
Father chose you out of so many millions and ordained you for the
salvation of which you here became a partaker by faith, and in which
you with the innumerable elect shall enter when Christ comes again
and shall call to you, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, and inherit
the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
Amen.




Of the Holy Ghost

Lord's Day 20


Psalter No. 71 St. 1, 3
Read Isaiah 45
Psalter No. 143 St. 3, 4
Psalter No. 428 St. 2
Psalter No. 426 St. 3


Beloved,
    
    The Athanasian Creed quite correctly states that he who does not
believe that God is one in essence and three in persons cannot be
saved. The Father is God; the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is
God. The full essence is in the Father, but also in the Son and in
the Holy Spirit. Each of these divine persons has His own work in
the salvation of sinners, although one Person cannot be excluded
from the other in this work. The Father in His eternal counsel has
determined who shall be saved and who shall not, for the reprobation
is from eternity as well as election. It is not only written "I
loved Jacob," but also "I hated Esau." The Son engaged His heart to
approach unto God, and in the fulness of time took upon Him our
human nature to merit in soul and body complete salvation for them
whom the Father had given Him. Neither the Father, nor the Holy
Ghost, nor the Divine Essence became man, but the Second Person, Who
with the Father and the Holy Ghost is and remains the true and
eternal God, has satisfied in our human nature the violated justice
of God, and bruised the head of the serpent. He is the Lamb to whom
praises shall be sung forever: "Thou has redeemed us to God by Thy
blood."
    
    The Holy Spirit is given to Christ without measure, that He
might glorify Him. To Him as we heard in Lord's Day 17 is ascribed
the quickening of the deceased Mediator. He also glorifies Him in
the heart of His elect, grafting them into Christ, and causing them
in all their ways more and more to know Him by faith as their only
Savior. The eye of the church of God was then not only cast upon the
promised Mediator, but was also looking for the coming of the Holy
Spirit. This caused the church to cry out with Isaiah, "Drop down,
ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness;
let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation and let
righteousness spring up together." From above came the salvation
promised to the church of God; out of heaven comes the redemption of
God's people - not from below; not from ourselves. That which is
indispensable for the salvation of a sinner is not only merited by
Christ, but also the application whereby we become partakers of that
blessing, comes from above. Poor people who think they can believe,
who think the promises of God for salvation are given to all that
live under the Word of God, on condition that they accept them. They
are deceivers of themselves and of others. Salvation comes from
above.
    
    God the Holy Spirit quickens the dead, and is promised only to
those that are chosen by the Father, and purchased by Christ. Upon
them the heavens shall drop; and the skies pour. The Spirit, like
the dew shall crumble the hard heart and make it fruitful, so that
the earth opens up and the seed of the Word breaks through. Secret
disciples like Nicodemus come forth. Salvation is brought forth to
all peoples, nations and tongues, so that the sheep that are not of
this fold are also brought in; righteousness springs up in the
people whose heart has been renewed to love God's justice and hate
sin, so that the Lord is glorified in them; and that is wrought only
by the operation of the Holy Spirit in them. Led by the instruction
given in the 20th Lord's Day of the Heidelberg Catechism, we must
now speak of the Holy Ghost. That Lord's Day reads as follows:
    
    Lord's Day 20
    
Q. 53:  What dost thou believe concerning the Holy Ghost?
A. First, that He is true and co-eternal God with the Father and the
    Son; secondly, that He is also given me, to make me by a true
    faith, partaker of Christ and all His benefits, that He may
    comfort me and abide with me for ever.
    
    Three matters about the Holy Ghost are presented in this Lord's
Day:
    
      I. that He is true God;
    
     II. that He is given to His people;
    
    III. that He is the abiding Comforter of His people.
    
    I
    
    The treatment of that important and comforting doctrine of the
Son and our redemption is concluded in the 19th Lord's Day. Now we
are come to the discussion of the Holy Ghost and our sanctification.
How necessary it is, especially in these superficial times, to give
careful attention to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. For the entire
redemption by Christ, His death and resurrection, His ascension and
His coming again to judgment remains unknown to us, yea more, the
preaching of it will increase our condemnation eternally, if in this
life the Holy Spirit does not graft us into Christ and apply to us
what He has merited.
    
    In us is neither the will nor the ability to go to the Redeemer
to be saved by Him. We shall never believe in Him, although we may
be born of godly parents (grace is not inherited) or we have an
orthodox confession and have never trodden the path of public sins.
Our times are full of pious people who are firmly convinced that
they are partakers of Jesus, but who have never experienced anything
of the saving work of the Holy Spirit, Who only can make us true
partakers of Jesus. They may air their enmity by scorning God's
people to whom often after much soul's distress, and an experimental
knowledge of their lost sinnership before God, Christ, has truly
revealed Himself, Whom they did not know and outside of Whom they
sought their salvation. I say they may air their enmity by calling
this all false mysticism, they who are strangers of this life, and
consider their historical conception of redemption to be healthy
mysticism, may very well examine themselves whether they are not
without Christ, so that of them it shall be said,
    
    "I saw in what peril ungodly men stand
    With sudden destruction and ruin at hand."
    
    Beloved, I must most seriously show you the deceitfulness of our
superficial times. We are going to that dreadful eternity, and
Scripture shows us only two ways, eternal well, or eternal woe. It
is not difficult to know the state of the openly wicked person. He
shows in his whole life that He is a stranger to God and Christ. But
there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet are
not washed from their filthiness. They do not deny the truth, they
acknowledge the fall in Adam, as well as the restoration in Christ,
they speak of the Holy Ghost and His work, and agree that there is
experimental life. It would be very foolish to deny that. But, alas,
if you ask about that experimental life, about the knowledge of our
misery, redemption and gratitude, about the soul's sorrow for sin,
about covenanting with God, about the slough of Despond and the
strait gate, ... foolishness, ... mistaken piety ... false
mysticism, *Healthy* living is believing, accepting, rejoicing,
climbing over wall at midway!
    
    Oh, the day of days shall reveal how many thousands have misled
themselves and others for that great eternity. My soul impels me to
say this again, for I am convinced that we can never be partakers of
salvation in Christ unless it is applied to us by God the Holy
Spirit, and we consciously experience more or less this application.
The Lord's Day we must now consider requires our very special
attention. We do not say that the work of the Son merits less
attention. Who could make such a statement? Who does not understand
that there is but one foundation for our salvation, and that is not
the work of the Holy Spirit within us, but Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. The true hidden mystical life therefore flows out of
Christ, and it is a very sorry sign when many seek to rest in their
experience and not in Christ. Surely, we must lose everything as a
ground, even our experimental life in order to win Christ. A true
life of faith will find its utterance in the words of the poet:
    
        "Though all I lose,
        Yet Christ I choose,
        For I am His."
    
    The accent on feeling in these days, apart from the Word and
doctrine, is rooted in man. God the Holy Spirit works life in
communion with Christ. Of that Spirit Lord's Day 20 teaches us in
the first place that He is true and eternal God. To the question,
What dost thou believe concerning the Holy Ghost? the instructor
gives this scriptural answer: "First, that He is true and co-eternal
God with the Father and the Son. Everything depends upon this, that
we know the Holy Spirit according to the Scriptures as the Third
Person in the Divine Essence. Our feelings should not be in the
foreground, but this sanctified knowledge.
    
    Our fathers have consistently condemned that which is so common
in these days, namely that men submit to all types of sensibilities
in religious matters, without resting on the true doctrine. And they
were right, as we can see by noting the sad fruits of religionism,
such as spiritual dreaming in philosophy, in popular oriental
philosophy, theosophy, pantheism, etc. Just listen to what is told
as religious experience and teaching of the Holy Ghost, often
contrary to Scripture, and yet many think highly of it. How many
"truths" are said to have been received by the Holy Spirit, which
either are against the intent of God's Word, or are never realized,
and yet with such deceptive experiences man seeks to maintain
himself. We could multiply the number of examples, but what has been
said has been more than enough to convince every honest soul of the
necessity of a sanctified knowledge of what God has revealed in His
Word. Not that which comes up from ourselves (and certainly
everything that is not built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets comes up from ourselves) but that which is of God is the
true religion.
    
    Hence subjective religion, that is the part that is
experimentally true for us, is limited to that which God has
revealed in Scripture to be the true religion. Then according to the
Scripture, the Holy Ghost is true and eternal God. Although the
entire Godhead is a spiritual Being, He especially is called the
Spirit because of the manner of His existence. He was given to the
disciples by breathing upon them as the Lord said, "Receive ye the
Holy Ghost." Although the Father and the Son are perfectly holy, and
Isaiah cried out, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts," He is
called the Holy Spirit. not because His holiness exceeds that of the
other Persons, but in order that we would not think earthly thoughts
of Him. Although the angels by virtue of their creation are holy
spirits about God's throne, we should acknowledge and honour Him as
the Holy God. The Spirit no less than the Father and the Son is very
God. He did not become God later, but was a real Person,
co-essential with the Father and the Son from all eternity.
    
    Understanding and a will are ascribed to Him, as to everyone as
a rational being, "For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the
deep things of God" (I Cor. 2:10). "But all these worketh one and
the self same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will (I
Cor. 12:11). Could it be that the heretics that speak, even in the
pulpit, of the Holy Spirit as a characteristic or an energy of God
and Christ, have never read these texts? Or does a characteristic
have a mind and a will? We can only speak thus of the Holy Spirit
because He is a divine Person. Therefore He is also expressly called
"another" in John 14:16, and Scripture speaks of grieving, lying to,
blaspheming, and resisting the Holy Spirit.
    
    With what clarity the church in ancient times has defended the
deity of the Person of the Holy Ghost against a host of enemies. The
church had to defend the true doctrine already against the Gnostics
who in the second and third centuries troubled the world with their
heathen theories, which they sought to apply to Christianity. Later
the Socinians denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit and considered
Him merely as the energy of God, and lately there were especially
the Modernists, the Groningen school and the languishing Ethical,
against whom the church had to strive and must still strive.
    
    When in Luke 1:35 the angel Gabriel says to Mary, "The power of
the Highest shall overshadow thee," he does not deny that the Holy
Spirit is a divine Person, but he speaks of His work in giving Mary
conception. Scripture speaks very clearly and very frequently of the
Holy Spirit as one of the divine Persons, Who with the Father and
the Son is true and eternal God. That is very evident, as
Hellenbroek teaches us, from His names, attributes, works, and
honour. When Ananias and Sapphire agreed to make it appear as if
they were so full of the love of God in the firm hope of salvation
that they would sacrifice all their earthly possessions, while
withholding a part of the price, they lied to the Holy Ghost. And
then Peter spoke the word that revealed their hypocrisy: "Ananias,
why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? Thou hast
not lied unto men, but unto God" (Acts 5). Thus the Holy Ghost is
true God, a divine Person to Whom one can lie. Add to this the
divine attributes ascribed to Him. He is omnipresent, (Psalm 139:7)
"Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?" In Hebrews 9:14 He is called
the eternal Spirit. In the third place the fact that He is a divine
Person is shown in His works. He works that which is the work of God
alone: "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the
hosts of them by the Breath of His mouth" (Psalm 33). "The Spirit of
God moved upon the face of the waters." Thus He is also the
Regenerator, Who regenerates fallen children of Adam and restores
the image of God in them.
    
    Finally, the honour ascribed to Him proves His divinity. Baptism
(Matth. 28) and blessing (II Cor. 13) are done in His name. Mock,
then, ye wicked, deny His divinity, persevere in maintaining that
the Holy Spirit is but a power; Scripture teaches you so much of
this Third Person in the Godhead, and portrays His majesty so
gloriously that we must needs fear Him. The unforgivable sin is
committed only against the Holy Ghost. There is forgiveness for all
manner of blasphemy against the Son, but woe unto us if we blaspheme
the Holy Ghost, for Christ has definitely declared that such
blasphemy shall not be forgiven.
    
    Scripture teaches us concerning the Holy Ghost that He proceeds
from the Father and the Son. His personal property is that of an
eternal procession, as the Son is eternally begotten of the Father.
How clearly Christ speaks of the procession of the Holy Spirit, not
only from the Father as the Greek Orthodox Church teaches, but also
from the Son, when He says, "But when the Comforter is come, whom I
will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which
proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me." Because the
Holy Spirit proceeds not only from the Father but also from the Son,
He is called the Spirit of the Son, and the Spirit of Christ. "And
because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into
your hearts, crying 'Abba, Father'" (Gal. 4:6) and in Rom. 8 Paul
says, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His."
Thus we confess with our Catechism "That He is true and co-eternal
God with the Father and the Son." Faith in the Holy Spirit includes
still more than the conscience acknowledgment that He is true and
eternal God; faith acknowledges Him also as the One given to God's
people, and it is this second part of Lord's Day 20 that we will now
consider.
    
    II
    
    A moment ago we spoke of the procession, that is the method of
existence of the Holy Spirit, the proceeding out from, yet eternally
remaining in the Godhead. We now come to the Holy Spirit's being
sent, which takes place in time and which finds its turning point in
that which occurred on Pentecost. Before that unique day of
Pentecost the operations of the Holy Ghost certainly took place in
the believers to their salvation. God put His Holy Spirit among
them. David prayed, "Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me." Through this
Spirit they believed and hoped for their salvation. But
notwithstanding this powerful, saving work, the Person of the Holy
Spirit did not come to dwell in His church until the renowned Feast
of Pentecost. It is the unique significance of the Jerusalem
Pentecost which we commemorate year after year that the Comforter
descended, as Jesus had foretold, "For if I go not away, the
Comforter will not come unto you."
    
    After the church of God had been set in heaven in the Mediator,
only after the breach made by sin was entirely healed by Christ,
could the Holy Spirit dwell in the heart of men. Until then the Holy
Ghost was not given; "because that Jesus was not yet glorified." But
after that the Spirit did descend. Just as Jesus was born only once
in Bethlehem's manger, so only once the Spirit descended and the
Church of God celebrated its Pentecost. Its obvious purpose was that
the Holy Spirit should make its dwelling in the hearts of the
children of men, out of all kindred and tongues and nations. That
was indicated in the speaking with other tongues as the fruit of the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit; and of that the believer in our
Catechism testifies, saying, "that He is also given me." The Spirit
then is given to the person of each believer. The Spirit does not
only live in the church in general, He does not only pour out His
gifts in her midst, and give common grace to many, but He is given
to each of the elect personally for their salvation, "He is also
given me."
    
    Let us not merely pass over this and glory in that of which the
church of God partakes, as if it were enough to belong to that
visible formation. Everyone that is saved shall personally receive
the Holy Spirit, Who calls him from death to life, Who saves him
from the claws of Satan and brings him back into communion with God;
Who changes him from an object of wrath to a child of God and
qualifies him to do spiritual works in which God is glorified and
his soul finds joy and peace. That is the great secret of salvation:
"God in us," that is here testified by the instructor to be the
content of faith in the Holy Ghost. It is the root of life in
eternal glory as Paul teaches in Rom. 8:11, "But if the Spirit of
Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His
Spirit that dwelleth in you."
    
    It should therefore be a matter of serious self-examination
whether that Spirit of the Father was given us, for if not, we will
not partake of salvation. If you ask how you can know it, the
Catechism answers, "That He makes me by a true faith, partaker of
Christ and all His benefits." Hence without the gift of the Holy
Ghost in us, we cannot partake of Christ. The Spirit is always
closely connected with Christ. If every birth is a mystery, how much
more mysterious is the birth of the Son of God as the fruit of the
Holy Ghost, as the angel said, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee
and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee."
    
    Now pass on from the birth by the Holy Ghost of Mary, to the
baptism in which the Spirit descends in the shape of a dove and sits
upon Him, and see that Spirit lead Him into the wilderness to be
tempted of the devil; hear how the Son through the eternal Spirit
offered Himself without spot to God and declared Himself to be the
Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness by the
resurrection from the dead ... follow, beloved, the Anointed of the
Father step by step; see Him anointed with the Holy Spirit that
rested on Him, Who dwells in Him without measure, and Who takes of
Him to show it to His people. That Spirit alone makes us partakers
of Christ. Believe, accept, comfort yourself with Jesus of Whom you
read in the Bible, but your poor soul shall remain a stranger of Him
if you do not become a partaker of Him through the Holy Ghost.
    
    We are all sprouts of the old Adam and nothing and no one can
cut us off from that root and plant us in Christ, except the Holy
Spirit. It is His work to reprove the world of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment. He alone cuts the sinner off from
his own life and makes him die, so that he might have life in
Christ. If you would examine yourself whether you have received the
Holy Spirit to your salvation, do not rely on your tears, nor on
your many fears. Do not rest upon your bringing up, but examine
yourself whether you become a partaker of Christ. Esau also wept hot
tears, but his lamp was put out in obscure darkness; Cain feared,
but died in his sin; Manasseh and Saul were brought up strictly, but
ran to destruction; but those who are partakers of Christ cannot be
lost. He is the Prince of life and He gives His people eternal life,
and they shall never perish.
    
    It is the Holy Spirit that makes us true partakers of Christ, of
Him and His benefits. His benefits become ours when we partake of
His Person, just as in a marriage. Woe unto us if we want the
benefits, but not the person. No happiness can be expected from such
a marriage. Can there then be true communion between Christ and the
soul if we do not want Him and only Him? In regeneration the Holy
Ghost grafts us into Christ, and through Him we are partakers of the
covenant goods of Christ from that very moment.
    
    But, speaking from the creature's side, we cannot come to Christ
until we have lost all our grounds. The regenerate person, ingrafted
in Christ, knows himself to be utterly wretched. The experience of
that soul is so different than that which historical faith speaks
about. The quickened soul complains of his sins, weeps about his
unhappy state; believes, hopes and fears; sees himself without God
and Christ in the world, and fears only to be lost eternally. He
cries for grace, and at the same time he works to be saved outside
of Christ. Salvation seems farther away as he sees his misery more
clearly, and he does not know the Savior, although he enjoys His
benefits. Now it is the work of the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ to
that wretched sinner, to cause him to thirst after the living water;
yea, to grant him that conscious union with Christ by faith which
gives him rest and causes him to glory in partaking of Christ, and
therefore also of His benefits to justification, sanctification and
eternal redemption.
    
    "Yea, he is also given me," says the instructor. Oh, how few of
God's dear people experience that to them was given the Holy Spirit
that makes them live in Christ, and gives them a free access to the
Father! Notice how empty they sometimes feel after having been made
conscious of their ingrafting in Christ, and how little they know of
the Holy Spirit. A full Savior and an empty sinner, but how shall
they come to Him and make use of Him as He was given by the Father
to be Prophet, Priest and King? Their soul cannot comfort itself
with all the assurance of their justification, but the Holy Spirit
enables them by faith to embrace their blessed Emmanuel, Who prays
for them with groanings that cannot be uttered. Thus the Father and
the Son and the Holy Ghost are known by the upright in heart, who
are experienced in the way of salvation, and by faith obtain rest in
the Triune God; for whom it had not only been Easter in their soul,
but who by faith could also celebrate Pentecost; and although in
themselves they are with the entire chosen church a group of poor
impotent sinners, yet can do all things through Christ, Who
strengthens them and in whom they have free access to the Father.
That Spirit abides with them.
    
    From the beginning to the end it is the Holy Spirit that makes
us partakers of Christ and His benefits.
    
    Although thus in regeneration God the Holy Spirit unites the
soul with Christ, and (I will try to say it plainly) without
communion with Christ we are spiritually dead, to attain the
assurance of the Holy Spirit's work of making us partakers of
Christ, our soul experiences a process of being lost, and of being
saved by the Mediator. Oh, how they, who have no knowledge of this
experience, lack the ground to glory in Christ and do not have the
comfort of knowing that the Holy Spirit was given to them; and yet
he that is born of God shall not be lost. Satan may rage, the world
may oppose, and sin may distress; unbelief and doubt may harass the
soul; the Lord will not forsake the work He has begun, but will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. For He never departs from
His own, as we finally hear
    
    III
    
that He is the abiding comforter of His people.
    
    When the Lord Jesus, after having walked for three years with
His disciples, and having taught and comforted them, and was ready
to ascend from them, He spoke, "I will pray the Father, and He shall
give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever."
That other Comforter is the Holy Spirit. That Comforter is
indispensable for the church of God, because the sorrow of God's
children can be so deep in this life. Sometimes internal and
external matters work together to depress the children of God.
Internally there are sins against which they must battle as long as
they are in this life, the assaults of Satan that can be so fearful,
the thoughts cast into our minds by Satan that are so blasphemous
and God-dishonoring; and unbelief that distrusts God and doubts His
promise, whether it concerns their salvation or whether it concerns
God's care in their life. Externally there are heavy burdens, and
bitter poverty, and deep mourning, all sent to them by the hand of
God in this valley of tears. For it is the will of God that His
people shall go through many tribulations to enter His Kingdom.
    
    But in those tribulations He will not forsake them. The comforts
of God support them, cause them to walk through the Valley of Baca
with good cheer. "Passing through the valley of Baca, they make it a
well; the rain also fillets the pools." Oh, that Comforter, that
Holy Spirit! He causes us to carry our needs to the Lord; through
Him our soul can cry out our needs before God as a child does at its
mother's breast; from Him we receive true acquiescence with God's
way, that makes us willing to take up our cross. No, God does not
take the tribulations away from His people, but He comforts and
strengthens them in these ways. He makes their soul to hope in His
kindly words, "They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the
heat nor sun smite them; for He that has mercy on them shall lead
them, even by the springs of water shall He guide them. And I will
make all My mountains a way, and My highways shall be exalted."
    
    He strengthens their souls by opening to them the eternal glory.
One glimpse of heaven causes them to regard all tribulations a light
matter, for the sufferings of this present time are not to be
compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. The lively
feeling and actual consciousness of the presence of this Comforter
may not always be in us, but the fact remains that He abides with us
forever. Also when we cannot feel it, or worse, when we cannot
believe it, when it seems that the Lord does not hear us anymore,
when we complain with the church of old, "The Lord has forsaken me
and my Lord has forgotten me," then He still is and abides with His
people. "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not
have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet
will I not forget thee."
    
    What a gift then has been given to the people of God in the Holy
Ghost. The Lord Jesus is their Intercessor in heaven, and the Holy
Spirit is the Comforter or (which name means the same thing) the
Intercessor in their heart. He defends their souls against all
enemies and accusers, as Christ prays day and night for them in
heaven. What could Joshua the high priest answer to the accusations
of Satan? Not a word. But the Lord rebuked Satan. Thus the Lord
defends His people when they have not a word of self defense. Using
all your soul's experiences, just try to oppose Satan's accusations,
to raise yourself out of your troubles and distresses, to overthrow
the sins which come up in you, and you shall experience that you
have no might against that great company; but the Holy Spirit drives
away all the adversaries of His people as chaff before the wind. He
never forsakes His people, but abides with them forever. Should then
God's dear people not make more use of the Holy Ghost that dwells in
them, that comforts them, and guides their feet on the way of life.
Then they would sing with David as we do now, out of Psalter No.
428, stanza 2:
    
    Application
    
         O let Thy Spirit be my Constant aid,
         That all my ways may ever be directed
         To keep Thy statutes, so to be obeyed,
         That from all error I may be protected.
         I shall not be ashamed then or afraid,
         When Thy commandments I have e'er respected.
    
    Let now everyone examine his heart by the light of God's
omniscience, whether the Spirit has truly been given to him. One can
know it, and those who are called out of death unto life are assured
of it, although by various steps and in different measures. Are you
at all conscious of it? Or does the ground for your hope of
salvation rest upon your life with the church of God? Do you rest in
the fact that God placed His Spirit within them? Is that your glory,
your joy? Do you comfort yourself, your children, your friends and
your relatives with that? Do you flatter yourself that you will
inherit salvation upon that ground? Oh, do read, before you knock at
the closed gate of heaven, what the Catechism teaches, namely, that
the Holy Spirit not only dwells in the church, but is also given
personally unto us; and that only by that indwelling of the Holy
Spirit in us we are made partakers of Christ.
    Alas, how many that live in the church, and follow and profess
the truth, will be lost. For the sake of your soul's eternal
salvation, I pray you, my fellow-traveler to that dreadful eternity,
examine yourself very, very closely. Many show themselves to be not
only strangers but even enemies of the internal work of the Spirit,
and shun God's children. They mock them who seek to partake of
Christ through no other way but through the Holy Spirit and glory in
Him by faith. Forsake, my beloved, the paths of sin. Oh, do not shut
out that Spirit by your own actions. Let the world "enjoy" the
theater and sports, but, young men and women, refrain from walking
on the path that seeks the downfall of your soul, by filling it with
games and fun that diminishes your interest in the Word of God and
dulls your interest in your eternal welfare. There is so much danger
in all these modern things. Set your heart to searching the truth;
give up your games and friends for it; redeem the time; cast aside
all fancies of heaven and bow before the inexorable Judge, so that
as a lost sinner, you may become through the Holy Ghost a partaker
of Christ and His righteousness.
    
    Whether we are young or old, rich or poor, free or bond, pious
or wicked, we must in our lifetime, experience the renewing by the
Holy Spirit or else when we die, no matter how many people may call
us blessed, we shall be lost and our portion will be the sentence of
death, and our baptism and our confession shall increase our
condemnation. Examine yourself as to whether you have been made
acquainted with yourself by the work of the Holy Spirit, not just
whether through your bringing up and the voice of your conscience
you were ever made aware of your sins, but whether as a helpless and
hopelessly lost sinner you have by the operation of the Holy Spirit
found your life in Christ. For it is that which is only in the
upright, that he becomes a partaker of Christ. Cain, Esau, Orpah,
Saul, Ahab and whoever else, may each in his own way have complained
of their sin, confessed, shed tears, humbled themselves, yet they
have never partaken of Christ. Scripture speaks of a morning cloud
and an early dew that passes away. But life that flows out of
communion with Christ leads to salvation. The Holy Spirit given to
the soul makes him a partaker of Christ. This takes place in
regeneration and causes a restless longing for and employing of
Christ.
    
    Come now and testify before God whether obtaining Christ has
been your sole purpose. Very great distress, or very deep conviction
is not the touchstone. I have known people who in their dreadful
conviction of conscience have rubbed the skin off their hands, and
cried most piteously because of their sins, but a few months after
their consciences were stilled, they revealed themselves as enemies
of God and His service. Do not ask for a deep way. May this be for
the instruction of you who often fear that your beginning is not of
God because you know of no observable change, or because your
conviction of sin was not as severe as you have heard of others.
Test yourself by this, whether you know an urgent longing for
Christ. Or are your tears enough for you, your comforts, your
psalms? Are you converted, and do you rest upon your experiences?
May this word of the Lord strike you, "Thou art wearied in the
greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, 'There is no hope'; thou
hast found the life in thy hand; therefore thou wast not grieved."
May it become hopeless for you. May God the Holy Spirit make you a
partaker of Christ by faith. And that drives the upright more and
more to Christ; for their debt and for the purification of their
heart they must embrace that only Mediator by faith.
    
    May our soul never find rest outside of Him. May the Holy Spirit
drive us from all grounds that we continually seek in ourselves,
thus we shall value Christ more highly, and in true communion with
Him we shall find all we need for our salvation. Those who are
partakers of Christ also partake of all His benefits, justification,
sanctification, wisdom and redemption.
    
    And now a question to you who have the great privilege of being
assured of your state; who in Christ are righteous before God. Can
you live on your justification? How many become big Christians and
are scourges to the concerned people of God and their souls walk in
darkness. How many glory in complaining about their sinful life, but
do not employ Christ as He is seated at the right hand of the
Father. How little of the sweet savor of the Lord's garden of nuts
do they yield. What do they lack? The true experimental knowledge of
the Holy Ghost and with it the adoption of children, even though His
work was richly glorified in them.
    
    Oh, highly blessed people of God, may the Lord favour you with
the knowledge not only of a reconciled God in Christ, but also of
the Holy Spirit as the Third Person of the Divine Essence, Who
assured you of your salvation, Who also gave you freedom to approach
to God and arise out of your complaints to Him Who ever lives to
make intercession for His people. How little do God's people know
and feel their need of the Holy Spirit. Yet by it you would become
poor with all your riches, very dependent with all that the Lord
gave you, but also filled with the Holy Spirit, and trusting in your
faithful God and Father, how happy you would be. You would glory
with the bride, "I am black, but comely," and the fruit would be the
mortification of your members which are upon the earth. Your
spiritual sonship would cause you to bring by faith both your
internal and your external needs to your Father which is in heaven,
and would strengthen you in all the trials through which you must
pass. Indeed, having the comforts of the Holy Spirit, you would
consider your trials light in the hope of salvation prepared for
you, while out of the depths of your self-abhorrence and among tears
of oppression you would glory in Him Who bought you with His blood.
Seek to know the Holy Spirit, and to be served by Him as those who
are prepared one day to praise and glorify the Triune God perfectly.
Amen.




The Church of God

Lord's Day 21


Psalter No. 166 St. 1, 2, 3
Read Rom. 9:6-33
Psalter No. 420 St. 3, 5
Psalter No. 280 St. 3, 4
Psalter No. 425 St. 4, 5, 6


Beloved,
    
    In the Song of Solomon Christ and His dearly purchased church
vie together in praising each other. For certainly, in spite of what
other commentaries say of this book, we must apply this book to
Christ and the church. He is the Bridegroom, she is His bride, who
has all her salvation and beauty in Christ, and receives it from
Him. Hence whenever she is praised, it is only because of the glory
with which He has arrayed her. The daughters of Jerusalem, who were
no strangers to grace, but stood afar in the matter of appropriating
by faith, often looked upon the bride in amazement, as those
concerned about their state look upon the established ones when they
may enjoy communion with Christ and may glory in Him by faith. This
caused the daughters of Jerusalem to cry out in Chapter 6: "Who is
she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as
the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?" With increasing
glory the daughters saw the beauty of the bride as that of the dawn,
which after the dark of night casts its first beams of light upon
the earth, as that of the moon which in full glory lightens the dark
night, yea, as that of the sun which blinds us with its light.
    
    But how can so much praise be given to the bride of Christ? Has
she not fallen as all men in Adam? Does she not carry within her the
remnants of sin, that cause her to cry out continually, "I have a
law in my members, warring against the law of my mind?" Yea,
considered in themselves God's people are and remain poor sinners.
But the bride of Christ receives her beauty in her Bridegroom. In
Him she is perfect; He arrays her with the garments of salvation and
covers her with the robe of righteousness; in Him she is pleasant to
the Father and having communion with Him by faith she may display
her beauty. Moreover, she is unconquerable; she is "terrible as an
army with banners", as a well-organized army before whom no enemy,
however mighty he may be, can stand. For the Lion out of the tribe
of Judah has conquered, and in Him she is more than conqueror. May
it be given us to see her in that glory and strength, both in her
inward and in her visible appearance, as we now hear in the
twenty-first Lord's Day of our Heidelberg Catechism what the church
of God is and which benefits are granted her. This Lord's Day reads
as follows:
    
    Lord's Day 21
    
Q. 54: What believest thou concerning the "holy catholic church" of
    Christ?

A. That the Son of God from the beginning to the end of the world,
    gathers, defends, and preserves to himself by his Spirit and
    word, out of the whole human race, a church chosen to
    everlasting life, agreeing in true faith; and that I am and for
    ever shall remain, a living member thereof.

Q. 55: What do you understand by "the communion of saints"?

A. First, that all and every one, who believes, being members of
    Christ, are in common, partakers of Him, and of all His riches
    and gifts; secondly, that everyone must know it to be his duty,
    readily and cheerfully to employ his gifts, for the advantage
    and salvation of other members.

Q. 56: What believest thou concerning "the forgiveness of sins"?

A. That God, for the sake of Christ's satisfaction, will no more
    remember my sins, neither my corrupt nature, against which I
    have to struggle all my life long; but will graciously impute
    to me the righteousness of Christ, that I may never be
    condemned before the tribunal of God.
    
    This Lord's Day deals with the Church of God and describes it
    
      I. in its essence
    
     II. in its spiritual unit
    
    III. in its special privilege.
    
    I
    
    The church of God exists; it has been from the beginning and it
will be on earth until the end of the world. Immediately after the
fall the Lord instituted His Church by saving Adam and Eve, and He
shall maintain it on earth until it enters into eternal glory. This
does not concern only its inward being, but also its visible
manifestation. The church is invisible as concerns the working of
the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the elect. It is visible, since
Zion's eternal King has given it the laws and ordinances by which it
is known in this life as the church of God. The Papists know only a
visible world church, but the Reformers always held that according
to the Word of God the church must be considered as visible and
invisible.
    
    Not all those that are in the visible church are true members of
the church of Christ; and on the other hand some of God's children
roam about outside of the visible church. As a result of the sad
condition of the church they have withdrawn themselves to meet in
conventicles outside of the church. They are segregated from the
church; instead of doing their utmost to reform the church or
instituting it anew, they reject it. Without the official ministry
of the Word, without baptism for their children, without having the
Lord's Supper, they agreed with the error of Darby that God has
rejected His church. The sad results thereof should be bemoaned
rather than computed. The Lord Jesus Himself commanded His church to
show the Lord's death by the breaking of bread and the pouring of
wine till He come, and that is possible only in the visible church.
Therefore there shall always be, however dark the times may become,
not only converted people on earth, but also a visible church, even
as it has happened in days of bitter persecutions, they must meet in
holes or caves. In the new Jerusalem, that is in heaven, there is no
temple, there shall be no preaching; there the elders need not have
the oversight anymore; there deacons shall not be needed. But as
long as the world exists the church shall have a visible form in
which the ordinances of God are observed, and as our Confession
states, "Every one is bound to join himself to the true Church."
    
    Of that true church the Catechism says that it is holy, catholic
and Christian. It is holy, because it is washed in the blood and by
the Spirit of Christ. "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show
forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light." However black the church may be in itself, it is
perfect in Christ, its Head, and by faith it partakes of His
holiness.
    
    Drawn out of all nations it is catholic. The church of Rome
unjustly calls itself the catholic church. It is a false church and
does not merit the name catholic. Catholic or universal is the true
church of God which partakes of Christ's anointing. Therefore it is
also called the Christian Church, or the Church of Christ. It is the
spiritual body of Christ. Although in its visible manifestation all
those who belong to it by virtue of birth, baptism or confession.
should be distinct from the world in their walk and conversation,
yet only those who were taken out of their state of death and were
made spiritually alive are the real members and compose the true
church of God. They are the elect gathered by the Spirit and Word of
God, agreeing in true faith. The elect! Is there then an election?
Yes, as well as a reprobation. In predestination God has in eternity
of His sovereign good pleasure determined who shall and who shall
not be saved. He has appointed some to wrath and some to obtain
salvation (I Thess. 5:9). "Jacob have I loved", said the Lord, "and
Esau have I hated." Reprobation does not mean that God neglects
those not elected and lets them lie in their destruction, but that
before the foundation of the world He has determined to glorify His
righteousness in them and His mercy in the elect. Just as foreseen
faith or good works did not influence God's sovereign election, so
the sins of the reprobate did not determine their reprobation.
Against the Armenians who revived the error of Pelagius that had
already been condemned in the fifth century, our fathers in Dort
defended God's sovereignty. The creation and the fall, also
determined by God, serve predestination which is the decree of God
concerning the eternal state of rational creatures: angels and men.
    
    The elect angels are not chosen out of the fallen angels, why
then should men be chosen out of fallen men as the Infralapsarians
hold. The Lord Jesus thanked the Father for both the election and
reprobation, and ascribes both of God's pleasure, "Even so, Father:
for so it seemed good in Thy sight." The election then is no act of
God's mercy, nor the reprobation an act of His justice, but
predestination is of pure sovereignty. "Therefore has He mercy on
whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth." This decree
of God is eternal and immutable. No reprobate shall inherit
salvation, even if he sought with tears a place of repentance, as
Esau did; no elect shall be lost, even if, as Paul, he was the chief
of sinners. "Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure,
having this seal, 'The Lord knoweth them that are His.'" Hence it is
unchangeably decreed in God's eternal counsel who shall be saved and
who shall not be saved. "My counsel shall stand," says the Lord,
"and I will do all my pleasure."
    
    Hence the election is not general, not all people are elected to
be saved, as Paul teaches clearly in Romans 9. "Many are called,"
says the Lord in Matthew 20, "but few are chosen." We ourselves
therefore do not determine our eternal state, but God has decided it
from eternity. That is the great abomination of Arminianism, that it
takes the right to determine our eternal destiny out of God's hand
to place it in man's hands. Man does not take a step on earth
outside of God's plan; would God then not determine his eternal lot?
But would it not be better to say nothing in the pulpit about
predestination, but preach only that Jesus Christ came into the
world to save sinners? Do we not give men an excuse that misuse
predestination, and while hastening on the road of sin say "Of what
use is our church attendance, prayer and Bible reading if I am not
elected, and if I am, God will bring me there at the right time."
No, my beloved, no! The foundation of the preaching of the gospel is
undermined if predestination does not govern all the preaching,
since not for all people, but only for the elect did Christ die,
arise, and ascend to heaven, and He applies salvation only to them
who were given Him by the Father.
    
    As far as the abuse of this comforting doctrine is concerned, it
is both unreasonable and wicked. Nobody talks or acts that way in
natural matters. It is in vain to rise up early, to sit up late, to
eat the bread of sorrows, if the Lord withholds His blessing. Yet
nobody who takes his business to heart says, "If God wills it, the
matters will come about, but if He does not, all my efforts will be
in vain." If in temporal matters we use with all our powers the
means God has ordained, much more should we use the means God has
ordained to our salvation. Moreover, no one standing before God's
judgment seat will plead, "I was not elected." Or do you think Esau,
Saul, and Judas could make a fig leaf of their reprobation before
God? Were they not lost because of their own sin, although they by
their wickedness executed God's counsel? God shall judge us by our
actions; yea, they shall give account of every idle word that men
shall speak. Those that despise the means given for salvation shall
one day hear, "Ye would not."
    
    The doctrine of predestination does not make men careless and
profane, but it acknowledges each person's full responsibility for
all his deeds, words, and thoughts. It is also a comfort for God's
children. The foundation of their salvation lies above the reach of
every enemy. In their heart Satan and sin and many enemies may
attack them so that the posts shake; but the ground of their
salvation is immovable, for it is the Father's good pleasure to give
them the kingdom. He has chosen them in Christ before the foundation
of the world unto the adoption of children to Himself according to
the good pleasure of His will. Would you then tamper with
predestination? be silent about it? God's people are saved because
God wills it, and their only boast is, "In Thy favour our horn shall
be exalted." May it more and more become their glory, "Thy sovereign
grace is e'er our fortress and our tower."
    
    According to this firm, unchangeable predestination, the Son of
God gathers His church by His Spirit and Word. He sends His servants
out unto the end of the world, praying the sinner as though God did
beseech him by them, "Be ye reconciled to God." That preaching of
the Word works divine miracles. No, not of itself. The external call
is a privilege given by God, but our enmity against salvation by
grace is so great that the external call alone cannot make us come
to Christ. It is the Spirit that quickens and makes the word
effective to salvation in the hearts of the elect. "As many as were
ordained to eternal life believed." By that Spirit "the arrows are
sharp in the heart of the King's enemies whereby the people fall
under Him." Yea, even the rebellious shall dwell with Him. In the
wickedness of our heart we can resist the external call of the Word,
but in the internal call God the Holy Spirit works irresistibly to
salvation when He opens the heart as in Lydia. Thus the church is
gathered by His Spirit and Word. It pleases God the Holy Spirit to
make use of the Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word
of God. By the foolishness of preaching, which is a stumbling block
to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks, it has pleased God to
save those that believe.
    
    Oh, that the Church of God would shout the Word to the ends of
the earth and bring the gospel to the blind heathen. Support the
missions so that one generation of the heathens after another be not
lost. For how shall they believe if they have not heard? From the
beginning of the earth to the end Christ gathers His church in that
way. He will never use another way. That binds us to the means.
God's people are also built up in that way in the most holy faith
and in Communion with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, and
also in exercising the communion with the saints, upon which the
second question of Lord's Day 21 lets its light fall.
    
    We view there the church of God
    
    II
    
in its spiritual unity.
    
    To the question, What do you understand by "the communion of
saints?" the instructor answers "First, that all and everyone who
believes, being members of Christ, are in common, partakers of Him,
and of all His riches and gifts; secondly, that every one must know
it to be his duty, readily and cheerfully to employ his gifts, for
the advantage and salvation of other members."
    
    The well spring of the communion of saints among each other lies
in the communion with the Lord Christ and with all His riches and
gifts. That is the fountain of life and vitality for the true
members of the church. That is the portion of the members of
Christ's body, of them who by the grace of Christ are called out of
death to life. By nature we do not belong to the body of Christ; out
of our covenant head Adam we all brought with us an eternal enmity
against God and against His Anointed. We do not want to be saved by
Christ; we are enemies of free grace. But that is the quickening act
of which all God's people became partakers, that the Lord cut them
out of the old stock and grafted them in Christ, conquered them in
His eternal love and killed their enmity. Since that time they are
partakers of all the riches and gifts of the Mediator. However much
hell tries to deny this fact and accused Job of serving God for
temporary advantages, however much he attacks the church, and the
world calls it a hypocrite, although all within and without try to
tear the bond laid by God between Christ and the church, He that
sits in heaven laughs. They are vain attempts of those that hate
Him.
    
    Who shall pluck the elect out of the Mediator's hands? Salvation
lies immovably firm in a Triune God. It shall remain the bulwark
against which every attack of the enemy shall utterly fail, that in
the Lord's right hand there are pleasures for evermore. No, the
firmness of salvation does not lie in our hand. If God's people had
to hold on to Christ, they would be lost; they would faint at the
moment; even those who are led farthest in grace would be lost. But
now, since the foundation lies in God, oh, take courage, all ye who
are called by Christ Himself; He sustains His church with His hand.
This should cause the church to seek the stability of its salvation
outside of self. The church often loses her comfort because she
measures God's love by her feeling of grace, and thinks her
salvation is firm in her feeling, more than by faith in God.
    
    How necessary and how profitable it is especially in these dark
days that we stir each other up, and that the truth of God drives us
out of ourselves that we may find our rest and life in Christ alone.
Truly the blessed comfort that our communion with Christ is
unbreakable and that we are partakers of His riches and gifts would
flow abundantly to us. The riches of Christ are so great. He is
given us of the Father for wisdom and righteousness, and
sanctification and redemption. Although God's children wander like
sheep, He shall cause them to walk upon a way in which fools shall
not err. The people that walk in darkness shall see a great light;
they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them shall
the light shine. In those riches of Christ the black ones are comely
and the poor, guilty sinner is rich. Truly God's people usually live
on too low a plane. The world seeks to attain a higher plane, grasps
for more. It is a sad state which shall be bemoaned more and more,
that kingdoms and peoples, rich and poor, live on a higher plane
than they should, even under the judgments of God. But God's
children live too low. They have been endowed with eternal riches
and gifts; all the millions, and billions, and trillions are nothing
compared to what is given to God's children. All is yours and ye are
Christ's and Christ is God's. Let man worry about his earthly
possessions, whether hard times will cast him into poverty and
misery; whether robbery, war, fire, earthquake or whatever it may be
will bereave him of his goods; God's people need not fear; their
portion is safe in the Father's house whence Christ went to prepare
their place. Their goods shall not decrease, their riches cannot be
emptied, because they are in Christ and they have communion with
Him.
    
    Out of that communion with Christ as the Head of His church,
flows forth the communion of God's children toward each other, since
they are one body. That communion is spiritual, and its love
surpasses the love of women. Moses loved His people and chose rather
to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. Does not that communion
with God's people flow out of the communion with Christ? It was the
same with Ruth when she, in contradistinction to Orpah, and in spite
of the outlook of poverty and a dark future, made he choice, not to
be repented of, "Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."
Ahab the harlot may also serve as a proof. She forsook her people
and her idols, and "by faith she perished not with them that
believed not, when she had received the spies with peace." And all
in whom God's grace is glorified know something of that fellowship
with those that fear the Lord. The choice of Moses, Ahab, Ruth and
David becomes the choice of them all. "See how they love one
another." They see God's image restored in them, they are the saints
of the most High. They learn to love each other in Christ, and are
one body with Him.
    
    This also calls them to employ their gifts readily and
cheerfully for the advantage and salvation of other members. Bear ye
one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. The Lord
Himself said, "The poor always ye have with you," and there are
times when because of oppressions this word of the apostle is
especially applicable, "Let us do good unto all men, especially unto
them who are of the household of faith." Moreover, the children of
God must teach each other spiritually and employ their gifts for the
advantage and salvation of others, and let their light shine in the
world to provoke them to jealousy. The Lord especially grants
official gifts to those whom He calls to serve His church as elder,
or deacon, or minister. With what a diversity God gives those gifts.
Let no man despise what God granted. We are so prone to bury the
talent God gave; it is so small, others have much greater talents
and graces. But hear not only what Christ says reprovingly in the
parable of the talents, but also what Paul teaches in I Cor. 12: "If
the foot shall say, 'Because I am not the hand, I am not of the
body', is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say,
'Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body', is it therefore
not of the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body.
And the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of thee.' Nay,
much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble,
are necessary."
    
    Thus every one is called to employ his gifts for the benefit of
others. He should work with his gifts in the place and in the
circumstances in which God puts him. That calling can be terribly
difficult, so difficult that we would cast off from our shoulders
that which God laid upon them, so that a deacon here or an elder
there, or a minister yonder would leave because of discouragement;
or, if you will, a gracious person would rather withdraw himself
from life than make his voice to be heard where he should. What then
sustains the upright? What gives their soul so much liberty in
faith? The strengthening of the Holy Spirit; He, the Comforter takes
from the fulness of Christ and distributes to them that are His as
He wills. Those gifts every one is called to employ readily and
cheerfully for the advantage and salvation of the other members.
"The necessity is laid upon me;" writes Paul, "Yea, woe is unto me,
if I preach not the gospel! For if I do this thing willingly, I have
a reward; but if against my will, a dispensation is committed unto
me." God grant us something of that ready willingness so that these
gifts may be as spikenard, sending forth a good smell. We would
partake more of Christ's propitiatory death if we would heed this
holy calling more conscientiously. How the special privilege given
to the church of God would be embraced by faith. That special
privilege we would now consider as it is discussed in Question 56.
    
    III
    
    What believest thou concerning the forgiveness of sins? That
God, for the sake of Christ's satisfaction, will no more remember my
sins, neither my corrupt nature, against which I have to struggle
all my life long; but will graciously impute to me the righteousness
of Christ, that I may never be condemned before the tribunal of God.
In these words the Catechism describes the benefit the church enjoys
namely, the forgiveness of sins. Soon, in Lord's Day 23, we shall be
taught that the profit of faith is the justification of the sinner
before God, and thus the forgiveness of sins by faith will be
discussed more extensively, especially the way in which this takes
place. Here the instructor only wants to show us the forgiveness of
sins as a blessing which is enjoyed only by God's elect church.
    
    In the explanation given we see first of all that God forgives
sins. No one outside of Him can free us from sins committed against
Him. All papal indulgences and priestly absolutions have no value in
heaven, but is a caricature, mocking the true forgiving of sins.
Even the Pharisees understood that God alone can forgive sins. When
Christ said to the sick of the palsy, "Son, thy sins be forgiven
thee," they made the remark, "Who can forgive sins but God only?"
Christ did not contradict them, but showed them that not as *a*, but
as *the* Son of man He was very God, and therefore, as the Messiah
sent by the Father, by Whom God one day would judge the world, has
power on earth to forgive sins. Only God's acquittal shall free us
from guilt and punishment. "I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy
transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins."
    
    Thus in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and
shall glory. Forgiving sins does not mean that God overlooks sins.
When we people, forgive each other, we do it to our equals, who are
just as corrupt and guilty as we are. God is above us and over
against us as Judge. His justice demands satisfaction for the wrong
committed; acquittance of punishment can only occur when perfect,
satisfaction is rendered to the violated justice. God could not
remain God if He dropped even one penny from the demand of full
payment. God cannot be satisfied with anything less than full
payment. That full payment is given by God Himself; never, no, never
could man weigh up anything to God's justice. God gave His Only
begotten, the Son was anointed in eternity. Out of sovereign love He
took upon Himself to weigh the ransom into His Father's hand. He
gave satisfaction in the fulness of time. Because God's justice
cannot make adjustments, Christ had to drink the cup of God's wrath
to the last drop, without any mitigation. Therefore His soul was
sorrowful unto death and His sweat was as it were great drops of
blood falling down to the ground; therefore He hung on the cross as
an accursed one, and He was forsaken of God, while the sun was
darkened at noon as in such a manner as no natural sun eclipse can
take place; therefore He had to die the ignominious, painful and
cursed death of the cross. In one word, He had to suffer everything
to which His people were subject eternally so that He could say, "It
is finished." Then God's justice was satisfied.
    
    In the resurrection of Christ from the dead, the Father showed
that He was satisfied with the sacrifice brought. Christ is raised
for our justification. The quittance has been given; pardon has been
proclaimed from heaven. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of
God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?
This only is the ground of the forgiveness of sins. Since God by God
Himself has been satisfied, the sins of a sinner that is lost in
Adam can be forgiven by a gracious pardon without any merits of his
own. But then Christ's righteousness must become ours. It is not
ours by nature and does not become ours by bringing up and
instruction in the truth; it is not to be laid hold on by human
strength. The application of His righteousness is the work of Christ
as well as the meriting. If the sinner can say in truth that God for
the sake of Christ's satisfaction will no more remember his sins,
then that must be the testimony of faith, founded in the work of the
Holy Spirit by which the lost sinner is ingrafted in Christ.
    
    God comes to the sinner acquainting him with his sins; He opens
his eyes to see the way he is traveling and persuades him that that
way leads to eternal perdition. Oh, what distress is here
experienced. God's justice demands payment, and the harder the
uncovered sinner works, the greater his guilt becomes. Every day the
debt is greater, every hour the judgment more just. There is no
escape. If those weary souls could but look to Jesus! But it is as
if they had never heard of Jesus; they go to their broken pitchers,
that hold no water, until as totally undone, they bow under the
justice of God, and agree perfectly that they deserve eternal death,
and give up all hope in themselves and in all creatures. They must
come to that place ere Jesus shall come into their soul; but the
Lord does not leave His people there in distress. The Sun of
righteousness arises, the Surety of the covenant reveals Himself. In
Him, oh, in Him is righteousness to pay all debts, in Him there is a
possibility to be saved.
    
    What a joyful hope now fills the heart of the dejected sinner.
There is a way to be reconciled to God. That way was closed for the
soul before; that reconciliation was considered impossible, but now
it is revealed in Christ. How precious He becomes to everyone that
believes, and with what kindly invitation does He urge all that are
weary and heavy laden to come to Him. Oh, how can that
reconciliation with the Father seem so far away. It seems to be
spoken to the concerned soul as it was to Lot when he was led out of
Sodom, "Haste thee, escape thither." For there can be no rest until
the sinner has entered the Zoar of safety. If you want me to say it
with other words, God's people can be afraid because their soul
fears they are not truly partakers of Christ.
    A common conviction can go so far; the wife of Lot died on the
road to safety. As long as God does not seal the true communion with
Christ to the sinner and cast his sins into the depths of the sea,
until then the fear always comes back that all shall still be found
wanting. Although the Lord sustains the soul with the promise that
He will not forsake the work of His own hands, the lively yearning
remains for the testimony of God's perfect satisfaction in Christ's
sacrifice, not only for others but also for me. Then, then we
embrace that God by faith, Who for the sake of Christ's
satisfaction, has forgiven all our sins, and will not remember our
corrupt nature against which God's children have to struggle all
their life. If the Lord looked upon His people in themselves they
would be lost. But He looks upon them in Christ and forgives their
sins, also those which cleave unto them continually. Oh, then their
soul finds rest; then they sing the hymn of praise which we shall
sing from Psalm 103, Psalter No. 280 St. 3 and 4:
        "Yea, the Lord is full of mercy," etc.
    
    Application
    
    And so the church of God is still on earth, even in our dark
days, and it will remain here until the judgment day. Do not listen
to them who say, "There is no church anymore." How guilty even God's
children make themselves by withdrawing from the church and by not
employing their gifts for the advantage of others. They could in the
various offices which Christ has ordained serve the church well. But
they withdraw themselves and prefer to gather with their family and
a few friends in their house instead of gathering in God's house. I
say this to their shame. Seek with your children to come faithfully
under the preaching of the Word, and to join yourself to the church
to which you already belong by birth and baptism. You cannot remain
baptismal members. Confirm by your confession that you do not wish
to leave the church, but perpetuate in confession and conversation
the blessing God gave you of being reckoned to belong to His visible
church. Let the consistories arouse, admonish and urge baptismal
members to do so. A baptismal member is a minor for whom the parents
are responsible. When however you assume responsibility for
yourself, you are obliged to join yourself to the church, or else
you withdraw from the church and choose the world for your portion,
treading upon a way that surely will lead to destruction. Oh, young
men and young women, do not despise the statutes of the Lord.
    
    Must everyone then who makes confession, be regarded as
regenerated? Far from it. God made you a member of the visible
church by birth and baptism, and in making confession you declare
that you want to remain that. Could the Lord have made a mistake
when He made you a member when you were still unconverted? That is
not possible, and therefore we need not consider every confessing
member to be regenerated. The church is, as is said of the Kingdom
of heaven, as a group of five wise and five foolish virgins, as a
field in which wheat and tares grow, as a threshing floor upon which
wheat and tares lie, as a net in which good and bad fish are. They
who want a church of converted people only fall into the
objectionable doctrine of DeLabadie. But everyone must search
himself whether he is a living member of the church. For one day the
Lord shall come with the fan in His hand and thoroughly purge His
floor.
    
    Oh, unconverted members of the visible church, how terrible your
lot shall be then. The chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire,
and your lot shall be with the wicked forever in the fire that shall
not be quenched. Were they not all Israelites of whom it is written,
"But with many of them God was not well pleased"? I pray you, do not
rest upon your membership in the visible church, but let the
necessity of regeneration weigh upon your heart. Life and death is
placed before you from Sabbath to Sabbath in the pure preaching of
the Word of God. Would you just lay that serious preaching beside
you and think no more about it? Are your thoughts during the
preaching and your conversation at the close of the service only
about worldly things? How then shall the ministry of God's testimony
ever work upon your conscience? You are withdrawing yourself from
its influence. Do not lay the blame upon God then if you live on
unconverted, although it is only free grace if the Word is
sanctified to you for salvation. Testify here before God whether the
Lord did not faithfully warn you about your approaching destruction
and invite you to salvation in Christ. If you cannot justify
yourself before the bar of the gospel, how will you acquit yourself
before God's judgment seat?
    
    Do not let your poor soul be misled with the advice that has
become so common, "Just believe and be converted." May the Lord use
His Word, baptism and confessing members of His visible church to
discover to you the state of your misery. May one day the arrow that
Christ shoots from the bow in His hand strike you so that you leave
the church crying, "It is lost." Oh, may we never lose sight of the
necessity of the knowledge of our misery, the necessity of becoming
a living member of the church by regenerating grace, so that all the
benefits God has bestowed on us will not testify against us in the
day of days. Do not use sovereign election and reprobation as a fig
leaf. God's eternal council shall surely be fulfilled, but we
fulfill it, and one day we shall be judged according to our sins.
Oh, how our conscience shall then gnaw as a worm in the fire that
shall not be quenched, and reproach us saying, "Your own fault, your
own fault." May God sanctify to your heart the benefit He gave you
of belonging to His visible church and living under His Word to your
salvation. He gathers His elect by His Spirit and Word.
    
    Oh, what a change when God the Holy Spirit makes His Word
fruitful and regenerates one by that Word as by an incorruptible
seed. Let God's dear people testify how they left the church as
never before, how they knew themselves as lost before God. Their
judgment was pronounced, and still the preaching of Christ for the
salvation of sinners drew them to God's house. The church is born
out of eternity, receives the forgiveness of sins for Christ's sake
and is prepared for eternal glory in spite of Satan, the world and
sin. May it be given to the church while losing its own life, to
glory in Him of Whom the apostle testifies, "Has not the potter
power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honour, and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show His
wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much long suffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; and that He might make
known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He had
fore prepared unto glory. O the depth of the riches of the wisdom
and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments, and his
ways past finding out!" God's people may say with Bunyan, "All the
bells of heaven will toll, when I enter." "Thou art the glory of
their strength, and in Thy favour our horn shall be exalted." Amen.




The Eternal Bliss of the Church of God

Lord's Day 22


Psalter No.422 St. 5
Read I Cor. 15:35-58
Psalter No.166 St. 2,3
Psalter No. 29 St. 3
Psalter No.424 St. 3,4


Beloved,

    Already in this life God's elect partake of eternal salvation
and are therefore called blessed, as we have sung, "How blessed,
Lord, are they who know the joyful sound." The poet of Psalm 89
praises these people as blessed, not only because one day they shall
obtain eternal bliss in heaven, but because already in this life
they become a partaker of that bliss by faith in Christ. They know
the sound of the gospel trumpet. Many hear the sound, but do not
know the meaning of it.
    
    As an example of the difference between hearing and knowing,
think of the trumpet as used in the army. We, outsiders, hear the
sounds the trumpeter makes, but we do not know what the one, or two,
or three notes mean. So also we hear the sound of the Word of God,
but by nature we do not know what it means. The Lord, however,
teaches His people, to whom He has revealed the state of their
misery, to know the sound. And those people are blessed. Of them
Moses cried out as he was blessing them when he was ready to depart
from the earthly to the heavenly Canaan, "Happy art thou, O Israel:
who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the Shield of thy
help, and Who is the Sword of thy excellency." Not Moses, out of
whose hand Israel had received the law, but Joshua, a type of Christ
in another respect than Moses, would lead the people into the
promised land.
    
    Salvation is not by the law, but by grace, namely in Him Who by
His active and passive obedience has satisfied the law and disarmed
it of its curse. In this life already He redeems them who were given
Him by the Father; He makes them partake of salvation. However deep
their way may be, however severely the enemy may assault them, who
shall hinder them in their spiritual race to attain the crown of
glory? In this life they taste God's love and favour, which
strengthens them more than the choicest foods; here already God's
favorites receive the first-fruits of that salvation which was
prepared for them before the foundation of the world. Therefore Paul
writes to the believers at Ephesus, "By grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." They were
dead, as all Adam's posterity are by nature; spiritually dead in
trespasses and sins. But the Lord has quickened them.
    After the Apostle had shown in the first chapter of the epistle
to the Ephesians that salvation is in Christ, in Whom the elect are
blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, he speaks
of the benefits applied to God's people in the time of God's good
pleasure, even out of the depth of their state of death, and grants
that they have salvation saying, "Ye are saved." All that the devil
and the world offers and gives to them who live in sin is nothing
compared to the salvation that God's people obtain by faith in the
fellowship of Christ, in Whom they have the remission of their sins,
the cleansing of their souls, being saved from the claws of Satan,
and from all their enemies, and through Whom they enter into the
communion with God Who is the God of their salvation. Their soul may
be sad because of the sins that dwell in and around them because
they are in "this present evil world," and are distressed by many
enemies who do not cease to attack them, still they shall be
abundantly satisfied with the fulness of God's house and He makes
them drink of the river of His pleasures. For them even death is
swallowed up into victory, and is robbed of its terrifying power, so
that they may glory with Paul, "Whether we live therefore, or die,
we are the Lord's."
    Yet, in this life God's children have only the first beginnings
of salvation which is laid aside for them in heaven. Eye has not
seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the
things which God has prepared for them that fear Him. When they
shall have fulfilled God's counsel their soul shall obtain salvation
perfectly, and one day their body shall also be resurrected and,
reunited with the soul, enjoy eternal life without any interruption.
Although Paul when he was caught up to the third heaven saw and
heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter,
and all those who are no stranger to thus being caught up, cannot
express in words what these foretastes are, and therefore certainly
cannot describe the full salvation, nevertheless, we wish to speak
of the eternal bliss of God's people, according to the revelation
given us in Scripture, as the instructor teaches us concerning it in
the twenty-second Lord's Day of the Heidelberg Catechism:
    
    Lord's Day 22
    
Q. 57: What comfort does the "resurrection of the body" afford thee?

A. That not only my soul after this life shall be immediately taken
    up to Christ its head; but also, that this my body, being
    raised by the power of Christ, shall be reunited with my soul,
    and made like unto the glorious body of Christ.

Q. 58: What comfort takes thou from the article of "life
    everlasting"?

A. That since I now feel in my heart the beginning of eternal joy,
    after this life, I shall inherit perfect salvation, which "eye
    has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the
    heart of man" to conceive, and that, to praise God therein for
    ever.
    
    This Lord's Day calls our attention to the eternal bliss of
God's people, as this is obtained
    
      I. immediately after death,
    
     II. at the resurrection of the body, and
    
    III. in life everlasting.
    
    The benefits God gives His church, are twofold: benefits in this
life, and benefits after this life. Among the benefits in this life
is the forgiveness of sins of which was spoken in the previous
Lord's Day. Now the instructor has come to the discussion of the
benefits after this life, as they are mentioned in the Twelve
Articles, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.
    
    The relation of these two articles to each other led the
instructor to speak at the same time of the felicity of the soul,
enjoyed immediately after death before the day of the resurrection
has arrived. It could not be otherwise. Not only that for the
comfort of God's people they must be shown that death is conquered,
so that it has become a passage to life everlasting, but also that
the resurrection of Christ out of the grave on the third day after
His death is the ground of the blessed resurrection of God's people.
In Christ's passage through death lies the break-through of God's
children. Their death is no death anymore, but a passage to eternal
life, first, according to the soul, and later also according to the
body. A blessed resurrection cannot be separated from a blessed
death, hence, what would be more natural than that the instructor
begins the explanation of the article concerning the resurrection of
the body by speaking of the felicity of the soul after death.
    
    God created man with soul and body. All that worldly wise men
with the old Sadducees bring forth to contradict this is
foolishness, even though all the world would praise such "wise men."
By sin, however, soul and body are separated; the body is carried to
the grave. The body returns to dust, thus fulfilling God's righteous
judgment, "Dust thou art, (since the body was formed of the dust of
the ground) and unto dust shalt thou return." Decomposition sets in
immediately after death, so that Abraham said to the sons of Heth,
"Give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury
my dead out of my sight." But not all of man dies at death, even
though many would wish that "dead is dead" and that there was no
such thing as eternal existence. The Lord Jesus said so
emphatically, "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able
to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both
soul and body in hell." The wages of sin is death, and this death is
spiritual, temporal and eternal. Man is created for eternity. Hence
at death body and soul are separated. And then the question arises,
"Where does the soul go at death?"
    
    Many answers have been given because men will not bow before the
Word of God. Among the heathens there were sorcerers, which were
forbidden in Israel; however, their evil influence crept into
Jacob's inheritance, as we know was the case with the witch at
Endor, who, since Satan showed himself in the form of Samuel, caused
the old judge to appear unto Saul, just as today the Spiritualists
show the form of the dead. They are appearances of the devil. Others
speak of the sleep of the soul, or transmigration of the soul, as if
the same soul wanders over the earth either in another man or in an
animal. These theories are foolish in themselves, and they leave the
entire problem of the spiritual existence after death wrapped in
obscurity. Viewed in the light of God's Word, they are abominable
and we should flee from them.
    
    With perfect certainty the testimony of the Lord teaches, for
the comfort of all God's children, that their soul after this life
shall be immediately taken up to Christ its Head. That therefore is
the comfort for God's children; their soul shall be taken up to
Christ, they shall immediately when they leave the body be with Him
in Paradise. The consciousness and the blessed foretaste thereof
caused Paul to desire "to depart and to be with Christ; which is far
better." In this life God's people too are subject according to soul
and body, to all trouble and sorrow and conflict and distress; but
soon when the course of life shall have been run, all the bitter
fruits of sin shall be laid aside forever, yea, rather sin itself
shall be no more, and the soul with perfect joy shall praise her
King eternally. She is going to Christ, her Head. Here He has
revealed Himself to her, here by faith she might behold Him,
although in different degrees; here she worshipped Him, crying out,
"He is altogether lovely."
    
    But what is this knowledge by faith compared to the perfect
knowledge and beholding of the eternal Emmanuel in heaven above!
There no darkness covers the heart anymore, the child of God shall
no more feel forsaken, sorrow and weeping shall no more be found
there. Oh, that is the comfort of God's people, that their soul
after this life shall be immediately taken up to Christ their Head.
He shall guide them with His counsel, and afterward receive them to
glory. And that immediately. Hence God's church does not need a
purgatory. That does not exist except in the foolish brain of the
papists. After death God's people do not need a process of
purification. In death they shed all sin and imperfection. To that
end Christ went into death for them. That is the main thing in the
death of God's people, that the soul, entirely purified by the
disintegrating process of death, passes through by the grace that is
in Christ, and enters eternal glory without sin. The papists are
poor with their purgatory and their masses for the dead. Did not He
Who was nailed on the cursed tree say to the converted thief "This
day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise?" Of Lazarus we read that he
was carried into Abraham's bosom, that is, in heaven. Stephen saw
heaven opened and Jesus, standing on the right hand of God, and
said, while his face shone with heavenly joy, "Lord Jesus, receive
my spirit." John heard a voice out of heaven which said to him,
"Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth:
Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and
their works do follow them."
    
    Let the poor papists keep their purgatory; they deny the perfect
satisfaction of Christ for all the sins of His people, and hold that
we ourselves by doing penance must still pay for the sins committed
after baptism. At death we have not yet paid in full and fall into
purgatory, unless, as heretics that do not belong to the Roman
Catholic Church, we fall immediately into hell. In purgatory the
soul must be purged, while other people still on earth can help us
creep slowly out of the imagined purgatory by paying money demanded
by the Roman Catholic Church for which masses for the soul will be
said. The dogma of purgatory is inseparably connected to the denial
of the complete sacrifice of Christ, while God Himself testifies
that by one offering He has perfected for ever them that are
sanctified. If ever a man at death came short of paying for his
sins, then certainly the thief that was crucified with Jesus. Yet
the Lord did not direct him to purgatory, but said to him, "This day
shalt thou be with me in Paradise."
    
    For the wicked there is no device in the grave. Immediately, as
the rich man, he shall open his eyes in hell, and, as it is written
of Judas, he went to his own place, to the place of the damned,
where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, where God's
common grace shall be withheld, and Gods wrath shall burn upon him
throughout all ages. It is either-or: our soul goes to heaven or to
hell, and that without purgatory and without the possibility of any
change, immediately as it leaves the body. In this lies a great
comfort for God's dear people. Their soul shall immediately be taken
up to Christ, their Head. The tribulation to which they are subject,
in this life is only a tribulation of ten days, at death it shall
cease. Their sins, which those purchased by the blood of Christ
carry with them all their life, and which cause the conflict between
the flesh and the Spirit, shall be cast off at death; the devil,
which sought to distress them day and night with wiles and snares,
they shall escape forever; and the world which scorns, persecutes
and seeks to banish them shall come to an end with its attacks upon
them. Moreover they shall be taken up to Christ their Head. He has
entered glory and shall take them unto Him, that they may be forever
with the Lord. This makes them so heavenly minded that they
sometimes cry out with Paul, "To depart and to be with Christ is far
better for me."
    
    Not all desire to die flows from a true longing to be with the
Lord. Elijah because of discouragement, prayed that his soul might
die as he sat under a juniper tree, fleeing from Jezebel. He prayed.
"It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better
than my fathers." God's people are no strangers to such sad
conditions in which they, like Elijah after they have stood in the
power of the Lord, and for His Name and for His sake, learn to know
their own inability. However this desire to die is far different
from a longing in faith to be with the Lord. The deadness of their
soul may also be so great that hell does not terrify nor heaven
comfort. But the true communion of faith that they have with their
Lord and Savior, arouses in them a holy yearning for Him with
subjection to God's will, as the Lord taught them to pray, "Thy will
be done," and as Paul acquiesced, saying, "To abide in the flesh is
more needful for you."
    
    They can abide, because Christ not only gives them grace to die
when they need it, but also grace to live. He Himself prayed His
Father that He would not take them out of the world, but keep them
from evil. He promised, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end
of the world." Thus He is a fountain of comfort for His dear people
in life and in death, and He strengthens their hope that immediately
after this life they shall be taken up to Him. Oh, that hope, that
living consciousness causes them to cry out, "I will behold Thy face
in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy
likeness."
    
    There is still more prepared for God's church. Christ bought not
only the soul, but also the body, and therefore the body shall also
one day escape from death to be reunited with the soul after so many
ages or perhaps only a short time of separation, thus to partake of
eternal felicity together. The whole man shall be freed from the
power of sin and satin, in order that God shall be perfectly
glorified in His own work.
    
    II
    
    For the comfort of God's sincere people the instructor now draws
our attention to this in the second place, as to the question, "What
comfort does the resurrection of the body afford thee?" he answers,
"That not only my soul after this life shall be immediately taken up
to Christ its Head; but also that this my body, being raised by the
power of Christ, shall be reunited with my soul, and made like unto
the glorious body of Christ."
    
    That resurrection which shall take place at the coming of Christ
on the last day has been denied since the days of old. Sadducees and
Epicureans would not hear of the resurrection. Hymeneus and Philetus
spoke as if it had already taken place. Scripture, however, clearly
teaches the resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.
"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming in which all that are in
the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that
have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have
done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.' Then all graves
shall be opened, and the earth and the sea shall give up their dead,
while, as Paul teaches us in the epistle to the Corinthians, they
who are still alive on that majestic day will be changed in a moment
so that their mortal body shall become immortal and the corruptible
body shall become incorruptible. All bodies shall be reunited to
their own souls. But there shall be this great difference, that the
bodies of the wicked shall be raised by virtue of the righteous
judgment of God.
    
    The resurrection of the just however has its roots in the
resurrection of Christ. His return of life is the root of life which
shall blossom eternally in the resurrection of the bodies of the
just in that perfect life. The dreadful doctrine of the resurrection
of the body shall be for "some to everlasting life, and some to
shame and everlasting contempt." It is this comfort that only can
make God's people truly anticipate with gladness that day of days
when they shall be resurrected by the power of Christ.
    
    When that resurrection shall take place, in what year or in what
century is entirely unknown to us. The Father alone knows what hour;
but the times in which we are living show the signs of that coming
more than before. No, I may not calculate from the sad signs of
wars, and famines, and earthquakes, and pestilences, the length of
time the earth shall still remain, but let us all use the
seriousness of the time to impress upon our heart the certainty of
the judgment that shall come in the resurrection, so that we may
make haste for our lives. We should do so the more because of the
light manner which the world considers such matters, the wanton
manner of life by which she seeks her way through troubles, the
corruption of morals that is evident everywhere; these are all signs
of the approaching end, and they shall lose their power to tempt us
only when a strong urge is born in us to walk in a way that is well
pleasing to God. Also to God's people the call comes loudly.
"Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling
and election sure; for if ye do these things ye shall never fall."
    
    That dreadful day therefore shall come, when Christ shall appear
visibly on the clouds of heaven, surrounded by His thousands of
thousands of holy angels. With His almighty voice He shall call on
the earth and the sea, "Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment." Of
that resurrection, our Catechism says moreover, that it shall unite
the same body to its own soul, "that this my body, being raised by
the power of Christ, shall be reunited with my soul, and made like
unto the glorious body of Christ." That same body then, that was
entrusted to mother earth, shall be resurrected, it shall not be
another, a strange body. That was Job's happy acknowledgment of
faith, when his friends thought him a hypocrite, and he found
himself at the gate of death while Satan assaulted him severely and
God hid His face, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall
stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin
worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; Whom I
shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another,
though my reins be consumed within me."
    
    Those who speak with so much disdain about their body, as though
its only purpose was to be given over to corruption; those who want
to be overly spiritual and do not want to consider "their fleshly
rump," and under such highly spiritual things often seek to hide
their antinomian life; they should consider that Christ did not
think the body too mean to purchase it by bearing our sins in His
body on the cross, and to save it in the grave and to raise it on
the last day. His faithful care watched over it all the years and
ages in which it returned to dust; that same body with the same
characteristics. "How can that be?" was the cry in Paul's days
already; "Impossible," cries the worldling of today.
    
    Think, for example, of those that were eaten by wild animals.
Their body was changed by metabolism into that of an animal, and
possibly later eaten by another animal. How can that body rise
again, and which sensible person can believe such a statement? "Thou
fool," says Paul, "that which thou sowest is not quickened, except
it die, and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that
shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other
grain; but God giveth it a body as it has pleased Him, and to every
seed his own body." Have you not seen year after year that the
farmer casts the seed into the earth, which seed dies as it sprouts,
and soon sends forth a blade, and in that blade an ear, and in that
ear the full corn, but still entirely the same body of wheat was
sown. He who sows wheat, mows wheat; of barley you will harvest
barley; each seed has its own body. Now then, thus a human body is
sown, either in the grave, or in the sea, or in the destruction of
wild animals or of the burning furnace; but one day a human body
shall be resurrected, the same body. "All flesh is not the same
flesh; but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of
beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. A human body is
sown, a human body shall be raised. The same body, but "it is sown
in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor,
it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in
power." Hence it shall be the same bodies with which the souls or
all men shall be reunited on the resurrection day. God's justice
demands this; sin shall be punished in the same soul and in the same
body of the wicked by which it was committed.
    
    Concerning the elect, Christ has purchased their soul and body;
hence they shall receive in heaven the same bodies in which they
lived on earth. If the same bodies would not be raised in that day
of days one could not speak of a resurrection, and the earth and the
sea would not give up their dead, which God's Word teaches us so
emphatically. But those same bodies shall have other properties.
They shall be immortal and incorruptible, otherwise the damned in
hell could not bear the eternal punishment, nor could the redeemed
in heaven enjoy full communion with God. Even here on earth there
are times when their bodies almost faint when the Lord pours out His
love in the heart. How then could their bodies dwell in complete
salvation eternally, since here they are looking only in a glass.
But they receive celestial bodies, as the apostle says in I Cor.
15:40: "There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial; but
the glory of the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial
is another" and in verse 44: "There is a natural body, and there is
a spiritual body." Food and drink shall no longer be necessary to
sustain the body, nor shall they be given or taken in marriage, and
death shall be no more. Oh, how great is the goodness, which God has
prepared for those that fear Him.
    
    The resurrection is not put to naught by burning the body
instead of burying it. No, our objection to cremation is not that we
fear it shall cancel the resurrection. To use the oven instead of
the grave however is against all Christian morals; it conflicts with
the acknowledgment of Christ's burial, Who was with the rich in His
death, and Whose body therefore, according to God's decree was not
to be burned, but to be buried, whereby He sanctified the grave of
His elect. Cremation is so much the result of fanatic unbelief, that
we must very much regret that our government allows this practice.
To the dead belongs a grave, not cremation. For God's people the
grave is a resting place in which it confesses to cherish the hope
that it shall one day be raised with a body that shall be like the
glorified body of Christ. Enoch and Elijah entered glory with body
and soul; and all the elect of the Father await this glorification,
so that soul and body shall dwell in that house of the Father in
which Christ has prepared a place. That body shall be delivered from
all the corruption of sin; it shall know no more grief, it shall
yield no members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin any
more, nor shall it hinder the effulgence of the bliss the soul
enjoys in God. That body shall shine as the sun, the mouth shall not
be poor in words, but shall praise God perfectly and shall glorify
His grace; and sing the eternal hallelujah. It shall be like the
glorious body of Christ, that arose out of the grave full of majesty
and did not belong to the earth anymore. Therefore the Lord spoke to
Mary, "Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended to My Father." That
was at hand, the ascension was now open for Him. His body and soul
belonged to heaven. The bodies of the believers shall one day be
like unto the now glorified body of Christ, at the right hand of the
Father.
    
    That shall take place at the return of Christ upon the clouds,
when time shall be no more. For the Lord will not come corporally to
earth any more before that time. A millennial reign as the
Premillenialists hold will not come. The Premillenialists expect a
corporal return of Christ with the first resurrection of the
believers and conversion of the Jews, so that Jerusalem shall be the
center of the reign of the Messiah for about a thousand years. They
appeal to Revelations 20, but they are entirely wrong. In that
chapter a physical coming of the Lord is not at all spoken of, nor
of a resurrection of the dead, nor of Jerusalem as the throne of
Christ. Satan shall be bound a thousand years, "that he should
deceive the nations no more," that is, during that time he would be
deprived of the power of using the world powers to attack the church
of God. After the fall of Babylon, about which the whole world shall
mourn, but heaven shall sing, the church will have rest and peace.
    
    Brakel expects a blessed time for the church; but even if there
should be a time of spiritual growth in the church of God and a
downfall of the power of Satan, it is against the Bible to expect a
physical coming of Christ except the one time of which Scripture
makes abundant mention, when He shall come upon the clouds to judge
the quick and the dead. There is hope for the seed of Jacob; because
of the election they are the beloved for the fathers' sake, and God
shall not cast them off forever. How clearly does Paul, to take but
one testimony out of many, speak of the conversion of the Jews,
then, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in, then all
Israel shall be saved. The Jews are making themselves ready to be
cast away, the blood of the rejected Messiah is coming upon then and
their children; but if the Gentiles grafted contrary to nature in
Christ shall bring forth fruits of salvation, God shall be gracious
to the hardened Jews. "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the
wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and
His ways past finding out." A restoration of the Jewish nation,
living as of old in Canaan with its typical king at Jerusalem, is
against Scripture itself. The Premillenialist strives against the
revelation of the counsel of God, and draws the hope of our soul
away from the return of Him Who is to come on the day of days to
deliver our bodies out of the bands of death and to make them like
unto His glorious body.
    
    This we shall consider for a few moments, but let us first sing
Psalter No. 29, stanza 3:
    
        "My soul in death's dark pit
        Shall not be left by Thee," etc.
    
    Application
    
    III
    
    With the glorification of the body dawns the full entrance into
eternal glory which the Catechism treats in the last question of
this Lord's Day. The question is: "What comfort takest thou out of
the article of "life everlasting"? How comprehensive, and applicable
to this life already is the answer of the instructor, "That since I
now feel in my heart the beginning of eternal joy, after this life,
I shall inherit perfect salvation, which 'eye has not seen, nor ear
heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man' to conceive,
and that to praise God therein forever." Hence in this time already
everlasting life gives us to feel the fruit of the beginning of
eternal joy; everlasting life begins here below. He who shall enter
eternal life, must have become partaker of that life here below.
Alas, so often it is evident from the fruit that we can live on in
fatal rest just because we separate temporal from eternal life. We
do not realize the necessity of a preparation for eternity, and live
on in our way. Hence it is not that God's people are not happy until
they die. Many a church goer thinks thus; he agrees that God's
children are happy, but he can only conceive of their happiness
coming after this life. Thus he would wish to die the death of those
people, but does not desire the life of God's children; that life
does not arouse him to holy jealousy. So he postpones the time of
his conversion till the day of his death.
    
    How very differently Scripture, and hence also our Catechism
teaches us, that the beginning of eternal bliss is felt in the heart
now already, here on earth. They become happy in the hour when God
calls them from death unto life, and they obtain a joy that the
world does not know. You are entirely wrong when you think the life
of God's people is one of grief and sorrow. He who does not taste
heavenly joy here shall never have it in eternity. In what do these
first fruits of everlasting life consist? Let me direct you to what
Lord's Day 33 says of the quickening of the new man: "It is a
sincere joy of heart in God." The love of God is shed abroad in the
heart, and that love is unutterable and kindles in the heart a
spiritual return of love. God's people say with David, "I love the
Lord." How much blissful joy the revelation of Christ to a lost
sinner yields, what a heavenly felicity lies in the knowledge by
faith of the suffering and dying love of the Surety on the cross,
and even more in following Him Who was risen from the dead and is
glorified on the right hand of the Father. Here on earth
reconciliation with the triune God is tasted and the adoption of
children is obtained.
    
    Add to this that which the Lord gives as a refreshment in
oppression, how sometimes heaven is opened and we seem to be drawn
up to hear the song of jubilee of the redeemed and the holy angels,
with which they praise God day and night. Then you will understand
that God's children do not go through this life uncomforted, but
that gladness has been put in their heart, more than in the time
that the corn and wine of the wicked were increased. This spiritual
joy of God's people is the beginning of eternal joy. In this life
they taste the first fruits, which makes the soul thirst after God,
and cry out with Job, "My reins are consumed within me."
    
    What shall then the full salvation be which God has prepared for
those that fear Him. That shall be the perfect salvation, says the
Catechism. Here that salvation is tasted in part. Although God's
children are saved by grace, as long as they are in this life sin
cleaves to them, which wars against the spirit, and makes them sigh
and weep, as, to mention just one example, Paul complains, "O
wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?" Satan and the world also do not cease attacking God's
people, and the word of the Lord is very clear, "In the world ye
shall have tribulation," while the days of darkness and of the
hiding of God's kindly face are many.
    
    All that shall remain on this side of the grave. Soon when God's
counsel shall have been served, the soul shall enter into
perfection, and one day, when the body by the power of Christ shall
be resurrected to eternal life, then they shall enjoy perfect
salvation, where all sin and imperfections shall have ceased to be
forever, and God's elect shall walk in long white robes to serve God
most perfectly day and night. Then Satan shall be cast into the lake
of fire, and shall never be able to fire one arrow upon the redeemed
anymore. Then the righteous shall reign over all their oppressors
forever and ever. And God shall wipe all tears from their eyes, and
shall put away all that was in part, so that the blessed communion
with God shall be enjoyed without any interruption or darkness. How
much reason God's people have to lift up their head and esteem all
they must undergo here but little, compared to the glory that shall
be revealed to them.
    
    Poor worldling, you lack the true hope upon that perfect
salvation. Soon you shall stand without; one day Christ shall say to
you, "I never knew you, and your portion shall be with all the
wicked and the damned in hell." There you shall curse God day and
night, when you must suffer His wrath in the burning fire that shall
not be quenched, unless in this life you still learn to flee to the
blood of the Lamb. Seek the Lord while He may be found.
    
    May the salvation laid away for you, people of God, strengthen
your heart to run with patience the race that is set before you. At
the end hangs the crown. However hard the conflict may be, the
victory shall be yours. Here you may weep tears because of your
tribulation, here you may experience the results of sin in sickness,
and poverty, and troubles, and mourning, but it shall not last
forever. One day you will be given a portion among those of whom is
written, "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and
have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day
and night in His temple; and He that sitteth on the throne shall
dwell among them." Would you then not give evidence of this
salvation in this world, which, being hollow and empty, remains a
stranger to that salvation? Alas, people of God, too much you are
silent about this salvation; too much you consider the things that
are seen. That oppresses your soul, that makes you fret in your
adversities, that weakens your hands in battle.
    
    The Lord strengthen the lively hope and make you, also when
anxious days come, when God displays His holy indignation at the
world, lift up your head as those who are saved in hope, and whose
conversation is in heaven from whence also they look for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, so that one day they shall bring honour, and
glory and blessing to Him That sitteth upon the throne and to the
Lamb, for ever and ever. Amen.




The Justification of the Sinner Before God as the Benefit of Faith

Lord's Day 23


Psalter No. 227 st. 2, 3
Read Psalm 32
Psalter No. 85 st. 1, 2
Psalter No. 232 st. 2, 3
Psalter No. 423 st. 7


Beloved,

    In the parable of the Pharisee and the publican, the Lord Jesus
teaches the justification of the sinner before God, with the
exclusion of all our works as grounds. The familiar parable, found
in Luke 18, speaks of two people going up to the temple, which was
built upon Mt. Zion, to which men therefore literally had to ascend.
Thus already under the service of the shadows Israel was shown, that
led in truth by the Holy Spirit, the Lord's people ascend by faith
out of the state of their sin to the blessed fellowship of God in
Christ. But not all those who went to the temple experienced that
real ascending, any more than all churchgoers do under the new
dispensation. The difference between the two men in the parable
referred to, who were as unlike as life and death, clearly shows
this. The one was a Pharisee, the other a publican; the one a man of
honour, the other cursed by the people. The one is a man who stands
on the street corners, prays audibly for the passerby to hear, and
gives his alms publicly; and the other a publican, who had
undertaken to pay a revenue to the Roman oppressors and demanded the
tax to be repaid by his own people with usury. Is it any wonder that
the publicans were despised and hated by the Jews, and that the
Pharisees accused the Lord Jesus, saying, "He eats with publicans
and sinners"? Who would care to associate with such people, traitors
of their own nation? There could scarcely be a sharper contrast than
the Lord Jesus drew in this parable.
    
    That contrast is also seen in their prayers. Have they not gone
up to the temple to pray? But the Pharisee has nothing to pray, he
thanks. Conscious of all his dignity, having a right to heaven
because of his good works, he walks on to the front of the temple,
close to the priests' court. There he spread forth his hands, raised
his eyes to heaven, and stood and prayed thus with himself, "Oh God,
I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I
give tithes of all that I possess." His "prayer" is finished. Poor
man, who, blind for his deep fall in Adam, says, "I am not as other
men are". Is he then not included in Adam's fall, although he pleads
innocent of sins from which he was kept only by the common grace of
God? Poor people, who do not need to ask the Lord for anything, but
only to thank, as we hear, even from the pulpits, "Lord, our God, we
thank Thee" for this and for that; while a humble petition is
lacking.
    
    It is clear to all of us that when the discovery of sin by the
Holy Spirit is lacking, we do not desire reconciliation and
cleansing in the blood of Christ, nor can we pray, nor plead. Now
look at that publican in the back of the temple. He could not stay
away, but seeing his abominable sins, he dared not press forward to
the priests' court. He cannot place himself with God's people. Oh,
he who is acquainted with his own heart, knows the times when it is
a wonder to him that he may take the lowest place in the house of
God. With the publican he stands "afar off", and being ashamed
before God and man, he cannot give thanks as the Pharisee; but due
to the grief in his soul because of his sins, and the godly sorrow
that works repentance not to be repented of, he smites upon his
breast and cries out, "God, be merciful to me a sinner." Truly he
differs much from the Pharisee. Oh, what a wonder that "the sparrow
has found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she
may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and
my God", that such guilty sinners find a place where they may pour
out their complaint, and make supplication to their Judge. As the
chief of sinners, the publican prays for grace.
    
    What was the result? That also shows the sharpest contrast
between the above named churchgoers. "This man went to his house
justified rather than the other", says Christ. This does not mean
that the Pharisee also went home justified, but to a lesser degree.
No, indeed, the Pharisee in his self-righteousness remained
condemned before God. Scripture often speaks this way, for instance
when it says, "Except your righteousness exceed that of the Scribes
and Pharisees," which certainly does not mean that we must climb
still higher in self-righteousness, but that the righteousness of
the Pharisees cannot stand before God. Thus the Lord would also tell
us in the parable of Luke 18 that the publican was justified, but
the Pharisee was not. He was and remained condemned before God. How
blessed then the publican was. "Justified," that means acquitted of
all his sins, and reconciled with God, only because of the merits of
Christ. Sinners are justified freely through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. We wish to speak more about the justification of
the sinner before God in considering the twenty-third Lord's Day of
our Heidelberg Catechism.
    
    Lord's Day 23

Q. 59: But what does it profit thee now that thou believest all
    this?
A. That I am righteous in Christ, before God, and an heir of eternal
    life.

Q. 60: How art thou righteous before God?
A. Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ; so that, though my
    conscience accuse me, that I have grossly transgressed all the
    commandments of God, and kept none of them, and am still
    inclined to all evil; notwithstanding, God, without any merit
    of mine, but only of mere grace, grants and imputes to me, the
    perfect satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ;
    even so, as if I never had had, nor committed any sin: yea, as
    if I had fully accomplished all that obedience which Christ has
    accomplished for me; inasmuch as I embrace such benefit with a
    believing heart.

Q. 61: Why sagest thou, that thou art righteous by faith only?
A. Not that I am acceptable to God, on account of the worthiness of
    my faith; but because only the satisfaction, righteousness, and
    holiness of Christ, is my righteousness before God; and that I
    cannot receive and apply the same to myself any other way than
    by faith only.
    
    In this twenty-third Lord's Day we have come then to the
justification of the sinner, as the benefit of faith, and we are
shown
    
      I. What that benefit is;
    
     II. How that benefit is obtained;
    
    III. What the relationship is between faith and that benefit.
    
    I
    
    True faith, according to the description given of it in the
seventh Lord's Day, is not only a certain knowledge, whereby I hold
for truth all that God has revealed to us in His Word, but also an
assured confidence, which the Holy Ghost works by the gospel in my
heart; that not only to others, but to me also, remission of sin,
everlasting righteousness and salvation, are freely given by God,
merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ's merits. Very closely
connected with that description of the essence of faith is the
explanation of justification before God by faith of which Lord's Day
Twenty-three speaks. For after the Catechism has discussed the main
content of faith from question twenty-two to fifty-eight in the
explanation of the Apostles' Creed, the question is asked, "What
does it profit thee now that thou believest all this?" "All this" is
that promised in the gospel, which the articles of our catholic and
undoubted faith briefly teach us, for nothing of that which God
promised us in the gospel can be missed, and true faith therefore
embraces all the promises of God which are yea and Amen in Christ
unto the glory of God. Those promises were already in eternity made
to God's elect and to them alone in the Covenant of Redemption, and
in the time of His good pleasure they are applied by the Holy Spirit
and embraced by faith. No promises of salvation have been given for
reprobates; those promises were not given to the natural seed of
Abraham, but to his spiritual seed, that is, to the elect. Therefore
they are the children of promise, as Isaac was (Gal. 4:28) and not
Ishmael; they are Christ's, and hence "Abraham's seed, and heirs
according to the promise" (Gal. 3:29). True faith is given to them,
which therefore is called "the faith of God's elect" (Tit. 1:1),
while God in His just judgment according to His sovereign, most
just, irreprehensible and unchangeable good pleasure has left those
who are not elect in their wickedness and obduracy, and has decreed
not to bestow upon them saving faith and the grace of conversion, as
the Synod of Dort confessed against the Remonstrants (Canons of
Dort, First Head, art. 6 and 15). The reprobates are given over to
their willful hardness, but by His Spirit and Word, Christ gathers
those who were given Him by the Father and bestows upon them faith,
by which they receive the benefit of which Lord's Day Twenty-three
speaks.
    That benefit is not given then to the historical believer, to
the almost Christian, as King Agrippa, nor to the temporary
believer. Did Christ not speak of those sown upon stony places? They
do not have the saving benefit of faith. "They are they, which when
they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which
for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away" (Luke
8:13). Matthew 7:22, 23 also proves this. "Many will say to me in
that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in
thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful
works?' And then will I profess unto them, 'I never knew you; depart
from me, ye that work iniquity.'" Of Simon the sorcerer it is
written that he believed also, and was baptized, and continued with
Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were
done. But when he thought that the gift of God could be purchased
with money, Peter not only with holy indignation refused Simon's
money, but consigns him to perdition, and declares, "Thou hast
neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in
the sight of God." In spite of his faith, Simon was in the gall of
bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.
    
    Hence it is absolutely insufficient to be baptized, and to
cleave to God's servants, to join the true church, and to wonder at
the work of God. With the historical, and even more, with the
temporary believer we also find these matters, and these "believers"
will perish forever, because they lack the true communion with
Christ, which is obtained only by saving faith. We may want to
comfort ourselves with salvation and claim to have made the good
choice, as do hundreds in our superficial cold days, in which it
seems almost immovably sure that every professor of the "Reformed
doctrine" will be saved but the benefit of faith to justification of
the soul is only for those who by God's grace embrace in true faith
all that God has promised His people, and has commanded them to
believe, as the Twelve Articles have taught us. It should lead us to
a close self-examination whether we possess in principle that which
the instructor shows us as the benefit of faith. That benefit is:
"That I am righteous in Christ, before God, and an heir of eternal
life."
    
    "Righteous before God"! No one is so by nature. We are all
guilty before God: "Now we know that what things soever the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth
might be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God."
Already sentenced by God's unimpeachable justice, we first see the
light of day; even from the hour of our conception we are the
objects of God's wrath. Nor can anyone become righteous by his own
actions. However pious he may show himself, by the deeds of the law
no flesh shall be justified before God. Cherubim and a flaming sword
kept the way to the tree of life. He alone is righteous who has
satisfied the spotless righteousness of God; one single sin made all
mankind guilty unto eternal death, and from that sentence of
condemnation, that is merited again with every breath we take, no
one in heaven or on earth can redeem us, but One, namely Christ.
Righteous before God is he who is hid in Christ. "There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus."
Justification is in Christ for by His sacrifice upon the cross He
has given perfect satisfaction for the violated justice of His
Father. On the grounds of that complete satisfaction, He as surety
frees His people from guilt and punishment and grants them eternal
life. For justification is a divine acquittal, as judges give in a
court of justice. Hence justification and sanctification, although
inseparably bound together, are to be distinguished from each other.
    
    The Roman Catholic Church confuses these two benefits of the
covenant of grace, but the Word of God, upon which light was shed
anew in the Reformation, tells us that justification is the sentence
of God the Father as Judge; justification is the complete acquittal
of God. For the judge must do one thing or the other: either condemn
or acquit; by his judicial sentence he pronounces them either guilty
or not guilty. Thus God pronounces His people perfectly free from
all the guilt of sin and punishment in Christ, and acknowledges
their right to life eternal; there is no partial justification.
Justification is rooted in eternity. Before the foundation of the
world the Lamb was slain, by virtue whereof the believers could
enter into rest; also before Christ appeared in the flesh, since in
eternity they stood righteous before God in the suretiship of the
Mediator.
    
    For those who desire to read more about this doctrine we commend
especially Comrie's letter on justification, which contains a clear
argument against all Pelagian boasting of man's own powers and
righteousness. In opposition to the Armenians, the fathers of Dort
have maintained that the elect sinner is justified before he
believes and is converted; he is justified as a sinner and not as a
believer, thereby fully maintaining the righteousness of God. When
Arminius affirmed before the States of Holland the tenet, that in
justification God steps down from the strictness of His justice, and
ascends His throne of grace, Gomarus answered very significantly
that he would not dare to die with such an opinion, and thus appear
before the judgment bar. Nay, no one can appear before God with such
an opinion. So great, however, was the enmity of the Armenians
against justification, that in their meeting held in Rotterdam on
March 5, 1619, they decided never to unite with the Reformed until
their doctrine, that man is justified while he is still wicked and
that forgiveness of sins precedes conversion, was condemned and
improved. So greatly were they offended that in their sight nothing
was more false than the Biblical doctrine that believers are clothed
with the righteousness of Christ and are granted remission of sins
before they believe.
    
    But there must also be a justification before faith, as Voetius
says so clearly in his Catechism. That justification before faith is
(a) in eternity in the Covenant of Redemption and (b) in the
resurrection of Christ. In Christ, God's people are chosen; in
Christ by virtue of God's unchangeable covenant, they stand
righteous before God from eternity. They were all in Christ when He
suffered and died, when He was raised from the dead, and was
justified in the Spirit. In Him they are glorified at the right hand
of the Father. Herein lies the firm foundation of salvation. Whoever
would lay the foundation in that which God's people experience,
enjoy, or believe places salvation on loose ties and subjects
justification to the assaults of Satan and the doubts of unbelief.
Christ alone is out of Satan's reach; only in Him God's people are
safe, and their justification is firm for ever and ever in Him. "It
is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that
died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us." But this is not
the actual justification of which Brakel speaks; that takes place in
time by faith in the soul of God's children. This justification in
Christ in eternity and in the garden of Arimathaea must become ours
by faith. By nature we are condemnable, lying under the judgment of
God, and outside of Christ's sacrifice, until by grace God grants us
the righteousness of Christ and by that imputation actually grants
us the acquittal.
    
    Alas, many who held to the justification in Christ overlooked
this. They said that having been justified in eternity, and
therefore in a reconciled state with God, man was born thus. Could
God then still be angry with them? That would be ascribing an
inconsistency to God. Therefore those people who, bowed down under
guilt and sin, acknowledged the greatness of their sin, and pleaded
for mercy, were a thorn in their eyes. They considered the
experience of God's saints as misguided piety; and then, oh dreadful
thought, to be lost forever with a speculative faith without Christ.
It has pleased God to give to His people here in this time and state
the righteousness of Christ by faith. As long as we live outside of
Christ, as the Ephesians formerly were without Christ (Eph. 2:12),
we are in an unreconciled state with God, we are objects of His
wrath, we have no hope of salvation, we are without God in the
world, and we are heirs to eternal misery. We must labor to be in
Christ by faith, if our guilt is to be atoned for, our soul to
become justified and an heir of eternal life. That is the portion of
all God's people, and they have the comfort of it inasmuch as they
embrace such a benefit by faith.
    
    In this way the benefit of faith is the justification of the
sinner before God. Now in the second place we will hear how that
benefit is obtained.
    
    II
    
    Upon the question "How art thou righteous before God?" the
Catechism answers, "Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ." This
faith in Christ does not occur without experience in the soul and it
is more than an agreement of conscience that the righteousness of
Christ alone can cover our guilt before God. This is evident in that
same answer where it speaks of the accusation of conscience, the
worthlessness of our merits, the imputation of Christ's perfect
satisfaction, and the acquittal before God. We will never embrace
what Christ obtained for His elect by faith, without first
experiencing our lost state. By nature we are blind to the judgment
that rests upon us because of sin; we do not know our sins. It is
the work of the Holy Spirit to convince us of our state of misery.
That conviction is often accompanied by very great distress so that
the soul can truly say, "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the
pains of hell gat hold upon me; I found trouble and sorrow." Yet we
may never set great distress as a mark of saving conviction.
Sometimes God chooses to lead His people beside the still waters,
while the wicked feel the pangs of hell and severe gnawing of the
conscience in the common conviction. Severe conviction is not in
itself a mark of grace. Many have spent days and nights for a season
in severe distress, wrought by the common conviction of the Holy
Spirit, to whom it has happened according to the true proverb, "The
dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to
her wallowing in the mire."
    
    To prove yourselves and others you will have to set up a better
touchstone than a severe conviction. They who seek their strength in
this are not only haughty Christians who grieve many of God's
children, but they also mislead others and lay another foundation
than that which is laid, namely Christ Jesus the Crucified.
Therefore the Instructor does not speak of the severity of the
distress experienced, but of the true conviction in which the
sinner, summoned before the bar of God's justice, is accused by his
own conscience. Because of sin God has become our Judge, and He
makes His people understand this. In the true discovery of self, the
sinner has to do with God. He sees himself before the justice of the
Lord God. God demands full justice and perfect satisfaction up to
the last degree. This brings the guilty sinner to seek earnestly for
a means to escape the judgment. Oh, he goes from room to room; he
promises the Lord to better himself; he forsakes the paths of sin
and turns to the house of God and seeks the children of God. Yet
with all this he still has fear about him. Yea, sometimes the rich
invitation of the gospel impresses him; sometimes his soul can utter
his complaint before God sincerely and he can beseech the Lord to
save him. Sometimes his hope is lively, for he is still in the day
of grace, and although he must agree that God would be just if He
condemned him eternally, still the possibility of being saved is not
yet cut off. But with all that, God's justice demands satisfaction,
and instead of paying off even a penny, he increases his debt daily.
Not only does the law curse him, but Satan upbraids him and his own
conscience accuses him. There is no escape. Death stares him in the
face; the avenger of blood is at his heels day and night. As all
sinks away, the sinner cries out in distress while agreeing with
God's judgment, "Is there any way by which we may escape that
punishment, and be again received into favour?"
    
    It is there, where we can find no escape, where all our hope in
man is taken away, that Christ, the heavenly Advocate is revealed to
us, of Whom John writes, "We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the Righteous." Out of Him flows the comfort and hope of our
soul; in Him is righteousness and redemption; upon Him the lost soul
focuses his eye to be saved from the wrath of God. Just as a man
summoned before an earthly judge consults with his advocate and is
encouraged if the advocate has good expectations of his case, so
God's people consult by faith with Christ and take courage because
He teaches them about His mediatorial work, and convinces His people
of His all-sufficiency to give perfect satisfaction for sin. He is
white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. Oh, that sweet
conversation with Christ! How many comforting words flow from His
lips in the promises that He applies to His people. And yet ... the
justification of the sinner, the acquittal from guilt and punishment
is not His work, but the work of the Father. Not the advocate, but
the Judge acquits the accused person. Many souls for whom this is
concealed are often in much strife; it is as if God's wrath still
burns upon the soul and that God's justice will still condemn them.
When they think of death, all that is in them trembles. The great
question remains, "will they be able to meet God?" Their peace of
heart shall proceed from their justification as Paul teaches clearly
in Romans 5:1. In the course of time it seems that very few attain
the full consciousness of faith, where God cuts them off in His
tribunal and they receive in their heart a complete acquittal
because of the satisfaction of Christ, and in the assurance of the
Holy Spirit, that God will not be wrath with them, nor rebuke them.
That is what the Instructor teaches us: God the Father, because of
the satisfaction of Christ, acquits us so perfectly as if we "never
had had nor committed any sin; yea, our claim upon Christ's
satisfaction is as complete as if we had fully accomplished all that
obedience which Christ accomplished for us."
    
    In that obedience of Christ which becomes ours by faith, which
completed the suffering demanded by the law to disarm the law from
its curse, and also granted active obedience that gave a right to
eternal life, lies the only ground for our justification, which
places us in a state of reconciliation with God and causes us to cry
out with adoration in the enjoyment of the actual liberty of God's
children, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit." God swears that He shall not be wrath with them nor rebuke
them.
    
    My beloved, how great is the privilege of them who were
justified before God before the bar of conscience, and through the
assurance of the Holy Spirit might receive an eternal acquittal of
the Father upon the ground of Christ's righteousness. That acquittal
is for all God's people, not excluding those most concerned, an
assured acquittal from eternal perdition, causing us to dwell in
liberty, only as much as we receive this benefit with a believing
heart. Therefore there is such a comfort for all God's people in the
complete satisfaction by the death of Christ, and in the
justification in His resurrection! However much the accuser of the
brethren distresses them, and the law threatens, and conscience is
as a troubled sea, one day God shall set their soul at liberty, for
Christ did not shed His blood in vain. But it is the nature of that
new life and is indispensable for the glorification of God and for
the peace and rest of our soul, to obtain the conscious acquittal in
Christ sealed by the Holy Ghost. We would urge all God's children to
seriously endeavor to attain it. However, the ground of our being
righteous before God is not because of our faith, or in the
exercising of our faith, but only in "the perfect satisfaction,
righteousness and holiness of Christ, which God, without any merit
of mine, but only of mere grace, grants and imputes to me, even so,
as if I never had had, nor committed any sin; yea, as if I had fully
accomplished all that obedience which Christ has accomplished for
me; inasmuch as I embrace such benefit with a believing heart."
    
    The imputation therefore precedes the embracing by faith,
although they cannot be separated. It is not that God's people
accept the perfect satisfaction of Christ and go with that to the
Father to receive an acquittal of sin and eternal judgment, but God
applies the righteousness merited by Christ to His people, and then
the acceptance by faith follows. That imputation takes place in
regeneration. In the time of love God looks upon His people
immediately in Christ, as reconciled with Him; in other words,
applies Christ to them with all his merits, grants them the Holy
Spirit in their heart which translates them out of the state of
condemnation into the state of reconciliation with God. As we have
discussed before, God's children have the comfort of this in the
same measure as they embrace such a benefit with a believing heart
by the work of the Holy Spirit.
    
    Faith therefore falls away entirely as the ground of
justification. The Catechism indicates this in question 61 to which
we would finally draw your attention a few minutes as we consider
    
    III
    
the relationship between justification and faith.
    
    Question 61: "Why sayest thou, that thou art righteous by faith
only? Upon that question the instructor first indicates the
worthiness of faith, and then drops faith entirely as the ground of
justification. "Not that I am acceptable to God, on account of the
worthiness of my faith," says the instructor. Faith has great value.
Without faith it is impossible to please God. "He that believeth not
in Me, shall be damned," said the Lord Jesus. On the contrary, he
that believeth on Him has everlasting life. However much value faith
may have, it cannot be the ground for justification before God. In
justification faith is passive; it does not work; it receives. It is
compared to a hand, but not a hand that works, and merits, but one
that receives and embraces. It receives Jesus and His satisfaction,
righteousness and holiness.
    
    God's Word tells us so emphatically that God's elect are saved,
not because of faith, but by and through faith. The ground upon
which God the Father, Who maintains the violated righteousness of
the Godhead, and to Whom the Son offered Himself, justifies the
sinner, is not faith; but only the satisfaction, righteousness and
holiness of Christ, which by imputation of God only in His sovereign
good pleasure, become the property of the soul. Faith adds nothing
to the satisfaction of Christ, but embraces it, so that it becomes
the property of the soul. We must give close attention to this lest
we drift into Pelagian waters. Arminius laid the ground of
justification in the work of faith, but Gomarus answered quite
correctly, "That which is imperfect and defiled by sin is not our
righteousness by which we are justified before God. Now it is
certain that the faith of those that are justified is imperfect in
this life, and defiled by sin. Therefore faith is not our
righteousness by which we are justified." In justification God's
people learn, if they are privileged to experience it in the court
of conscience, to understand clearly that faith falls away, and only
becomes active after the acquittal of the Father is applied to them
in Christ and they may embrace it. They are not pleasing to God
because of the worthiness of their faith, but only in Christ. His
satisfaction, righteousness and holiness is their righteousness
before God; that, and that alone, entirely and perfectly without any
addition.
    
    What then is the relationship of justification to faith? How
then does faith fit into justification? Only, as we have already
remarked, as the hand that receives and accepts. Acquitted in
eternity in the decrees of God; acquitted in the resurrection of
Christ Who was raised for their justification, God's elect are
actually justified by the imputation of Christ and His benefits to
them, and they embrace that acquittal, glorying by faith and
receiving the peace of God that passes all understanding and keeps
the hearts and minds in Christ. Let us sing about this out of
Psalter No. 232, 2 & 3
    
        "His saving help is surely near
        To those His holy Name that fear;
        Thus glory dwells in all our land.
        Now heavenly truth unites with grace,
        And righteousness and peace embrace,
        In full accord they ever stand."
    
    Application
    
    There is then a justification in eternity in the decrees of God,
and in the resurrection of Christ. The Reformers have clung
tenaciously to this justification before faith against the
Armenians. They did not thereby deny the necessity of a
justification by faith. Among others, Comrie also took firm stand
against those who denied it, and we must hold to the pure doctrine
of God's testimony. With this doctrine the church of Christ, which
is built upon the firm foundation of the apostles and prophets,
stands or falls.
    
    I pray you, young and old, search the Scriptures, and the works
of the Reformed theologians, so that you will not be carried away
farther and farther from the true doctrine by the current of the
time. Let it be your joy to tread firmly in the doctrine delivered
unto us by the fathers. The worldling dances and seeks entertainment
in the theaters and service of sin, but may we be given to remain
with the Word of God, and to exercise our mind therein. Do not
content your soul with an historical knowledge of the true doctrine.
We must learn to know justification by faith experimentally. Let the
Antinomian mock and be hardened in his wicked life, glorying in a
justification before faith: one day he shall stand before the
tribunal of God, and receive his sentence from Him Who judges
righteously.
    
    Also against those who despise the experience of the saints and
glory in their vain historical confidence in Christ, let us hold
fast that we need to be justified by faith in this life. That
justification by faith does not occur without our soul's knowledge.
He who remains a stranger of it shall one day be cast into the lake
of fire and brimstone. Oh, my unconverted hearer! May God bind upon
your heart the necessity of being reconciled with Him on this side
of the grave, before you shall stand before God's tribunal when your
life is cut off and your soul shall already receive the judgment of
the condemned, awaiting the great day of judgment, when Christ shall
come again upon the clouds of heaven, and shall cast you with soul
and body into hell.
    
    God's people are delivered from that judgment. They also have
made themselves worthy of condemnation; they also are children of
wrath by nature. But it has pleased the Lord to translate them out
of the state of death into that of grace. There has come in their
lives a moment that God prevailed over them, and according to the
riches of His grace imputed the righteousness of Christ to them.
Already in eternity they were comprehended in their Head, and
justified in His mediation, as also in His resurrection from the
dead. They lived on in their state of nature, not being reconciled
with God, until the Lord entered the house of the strong man armed
and spoiled his goods. They were actually comprehended in Christ,
which was only possible because they were in Him before the
foundation of the world. But God would have them understand by the
exercise of faith what He has wrought in them. How necessary then is
the ministry of the Holy Spirit, to cut us off from everything in
which we would seek our ground outside of Christ. Do believe it that
we must be justified as sinners, and that in God's tribunal all our
soul's experiences have no value, and that we do not come there
draped with many promises, but as condemnable sinners in Adam.
    
    Many speak of justification without having been thrust off from
their own foundation; many, even of God's children, think they are
justified because they were given to look upon Christ by faith and
to find in Him their only Advocate in the court of heaven; but they
have not received their acquittal from the Father. How then could
they have been justified? Does not only the judge pronounce the
sentence? It is very necessary, especially in these dark days in
which spiritual benefits are not properly distinguished, to give
careful attention to what God works in the justification of His
people by faith, not to hurt the little ones in grace, but to make
them long more earnestly for the benefits which God has given His
people in Christ and of which He makes them conscious partakers by
faith.
    
    Would not your heart long for that blessing, concerned people of
God, being guilty before God's justice, you so often can find no
ground to rest upon? Seek to know Christ by faith. Look for the
acquittal of the Father. The assurances of an earthly advocate can
be deceptive, but Christ, our heavenly Advocate never misleads us.
May He cause you to glory in Him, "Thou, O Lord, hast delivered my
soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling."
Amen.







The Relationship of God Works to the Justification of the Sinner
Before God

Lord's Day 24


Psalter No. 12 st. 1, 2, 3
Read Romans 6
Psalter No. 236 st. 1, 2
Psalter No. 428 st. 2
Psalter No. 1 st. 3, 5


Beloved,

    "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord", so Paul testifies in Romans 6:23. In
the state of rectitude God established the Covenant of Works with
Adam, and in him as their representative covenant head with all his
posterity. In this covenant, eternal life, which can never be lost,
was promised upon the keeping of the probationary commandment, but
also death was threatened upon the transgression thereof. God
created man perfect, and therefore he was able to keep the demands
of the covenant without any added special grace. However, as we have
seen already in the Third Lord's Day, Adam broke the Covenant by his
wilful disobedience, and subjected himself and all those
comprehended in him to death. No other punishment could follow sin
but death, which according to God's righteous judgment had to be
executed upon all men, for God cannot renounce His justice or He
would deny Himself and cease to be God. Yet deliverance from this
judgment is made possible by Him, who as the last Adam, merited
eternal life for His elect and applies it to them. To that end He
had to subject Himself to death and render perfect satisfaction to
the violated justice of God. He bore the full burden of the wrath of
God and descended into hell; that is, He suffered the pains and
agonies of hell before His death. He bore spiritual and eternal
death in the complete withdrawal of God's favour and communion when
in the garden of Gethsemane He complained, "My soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death", and on the cross He cried, "My God, my
God, why has Thou forsaken Me?" He died the temporal death when His
soul was separated from His body, and thus He took upon himself the
curse that lay upon His people. Thereby the judgment of death was
taken away for his people.
    
    The mediatorial death of Christ is not meant for all people but
only for those who are comprehended in Him. As Adam in the Covenant
of Works represented all his posterity, so also is Christ the
representative covenant Head of His elect in the Covenant of Grace,
and his death is their satisfaction, and his righteousness is their
righteousness before God. He has brought immortality to light, for
he could not be held by death, and God's justice demanded His
resurrection from the dead when the law was disarmed of its curse
and an everlasting redemption was brought in. Without any merits of
their own, God's children receive eternal life from their blessed
Head, their Surety and Mediator. Comprehended as they are in Adam
with all mankind, they are rewarded according to their works; but
they obtain eternal life from Christ by grace alone without any of
their own works.
    
    Grace is given to the guilty, to those worthy of punishment, and
it is to those who, in Adam are condemned to death, that God gives
grace in the glorification of his justice. This justice was
satisfied by the death of Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son, Who
in our human nature as Surety for the elect, suffered all that the
justice of God demanded of Him. Therefore, they who are saved can
glory only in grace, as Paul writes, "By grace are ye saved." Even
though salvation is by faith, this faith is no ground for salvation.
The sinner is justified freely and is reconciled to God by the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. However, this doctrine does not make
men careless and profane. This life received by grace bears fruits
of thankfulness. The Catechism teaches that good works do not count
as a ground for the justification of the sinner before God and at
the same time the performance of good works is indispensable as a
fruit of faith by which God's children are grafted into Christ. Let
us consider this important doctrine as we ponder the twenty-fourth
Lord's Day of our Heidelberg Catechism.
    
Q. 62: But why cannot our good works be the whole, or part of our
    righteousness before God?

A. Because, that the righteousness, which can be approved of before
    the tribunal of God, must be absolutely perfect, and in all
    respects conformable to the divine law; and also, that our best
    works in this life are all imperfect and defiled with sin.

Q. 63: What! do not our good works merit, which yet God will reward
    in this and in a future life?

A. This reward is not of merit, but of grace.

Q. 64: But does not this doctrine make men careless and profane?

A. By no means: for it is impossible that those, who are implanted
    into Christ by a true faith, should not bring forth fruits of
    thankfulness.

    This Lord's Day speaks of the justification of the sinner before
God in connection with good works, so that:
    
      I good works as a ground for justification are excluded;
    
     II the reward of good works is acknowledged; and
    
    III the necessity of good works is shown.
    
    I
    
    The previous Lord's Day spoke of justification as the benefit of
faith, and taught us upon Biblical grounds, that only in Christ the
elect are righteous before God and heirs of eternal life. Because of
the righteousness He brought in they are acquitted of guilt and
punishment, but the application of that righteousness can only be
accepted by the faith that God grants His people. Now the instructor
goes on to delve deeper into justification, only because of the
perfect satisfaction of Christ, so that a leaning upon our good
works is completely excluded. Lord's Day 24 defends the doctrine of
justification against those who would base it upon their good works.
Even in the previous Lord's Day, those works were entirely excluded
as a ground for justification. Even faith, however necessary it may
be as a hand to receive Christ, falls away as ground for the
justification of a sinner before God. We are justified, not because
of faith, but by faith. The only ground is the perfect satisfaction
of Christ. Everything outside of that is a sandy foundation that
shall sink away under our feet. Christ alone remains.
    
    But this doctrine that excludes all creature merit has always
had bitter enemies. And no wonder! Our heart by nature cannot and
will not acknowledge that good works have no value. It seeks a lost
Paradise without Jesus, and rages against the doctrine of free
grace. Many therefore bent an ear to Pelagius the British monk, who
lived about the year 400 AD and denied the fall of man as well as
original sin. For Pelagius, Christ was only an example to incite us
to improve ourselves. How could such a false teacher who had been
repeatedly condemned by the old Christian Church understand anything
of the justification of the sinner before God by grace without any
works of man? He who denies the fall in Adam can understand nothing
of justification based on the meritorious suffering and death of
Christ. Still the error of Pelagius lived on; and as we have seen in
the explanation of the previous Lord's Day, in the seventeenth
century the Armenians embraced it and stirred up much trouble in the
church. They spoke of God's gracious acceptance of our works, and a
justification because of faith instead of by and through faith, as
the Scripture says. How many to this day, feel that God will forgive
their sins if only they will live moral and virtuous lives. Christ
died for all men, say the Arminians. To believe in Christ is an act
of man's free will and God, appraising our works favorably, accepts
what is defective as a perfect obedience to the law. The Socinians
made matters still worse, since they denied that Christ rendered a
perfect satisfaction, and spoke of a new law, better and more
extensive than that of Moses, and promising eternal life to all that
do good.
    
    Our conflict is mainly against the Roman Catholics. Rome teaches
that Christ merited salvation but we must make ourselves worthy of
it, that Christ bore the eternal punishment, but we must render
satisfaction for the temporal punishment of sin, and that the
righteousness of Christ is not perfect but must be completed by the
addition of our good works. Thus the Catholic enemies of the
doctrine of free grace already expressed themselves in 1546 at the
Council of Trent. Rome understands nothing of justification as the
Scriptures teach it. They do not know justification to be a judicial
act of God, but consider it a fruit of sanctification. By the
renewing of the heart, which is a grace that the church confers
through its priest, man is given the strength to keep God's
commandments, and thus by his good works he can obtain a
righteousness which has merit in the sight of God. Yea, he can merit
more than he needs, and thus acquire a high degree of heavenly
glory. With them justification is righteousness conferred. What a
misconception about justification! Brakel aptly writes that if this
were so, then declaring a man guilty would mean conferring guilt
upon him. Greater inconsistency would be inconceivable.
    
    No, justification does not come forth out of sanctification, but
it is an acquittal of guilt and punishment as judges give in court.
Our good works cannot stand before the bar of God, for even the very
best of them, even those which God's children do by faith, are
defiled by sin. God's justice must be maintained, and in the scales
of that justice, all our works are found wanting. If God would judge
us according to our works, the sentence of death would necessarily
be pronounced.
    
    Regarding justification by faith we cannot emphasize too much
that it is a judicial act of God, a sentence pronounced by the Judge
of heaven, which only acquits from the guilt and punishment and
grants a right to eternal life when the last penny is paid to the
violated justice of God. That Christ has done, alone and completely,
so that outside of His righteousness, nothing has any value at all.
That does away with the doctrine that some or all of our good works
have merit. Our good works cannot be our righteousness before God,
or even a part of it.
    
    In justification not the love, but the justice of God is in the
foreground. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment. God the Father as
the vindicator of the violated justice of the Divine Being
justifies. To Him therefore the Son offered Himself as the
substituting Surety of His people. "It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is
risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh
intercession for us." The Catechism, therefore, stands firmly rooted
in the Word of God when it excludes all good works of man as a
ground of justification and demands a righteousness that can stand
before the tribunal of God, and is conformable to God's law, and our
good works do not measure up to that standard.
    
    The Romish doctrine that good works must be added is a denial of
the complete satisfaction of Christ and violates the inexorable
justice of God. Never can we give even one penny to God's demands.
Every imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, because of
the breaking of the Covenant of Works. The wilful disobedience of
our first parents, Adam and Eve in Paradise, did not however
diminish God's demands upon man. God's justice continues to demand
perfect obedience to God's holy law. That justice never holds the
guilty one guiltless. There is no gracious acceptance with God by
which He would accept the imperfect, sinful work as if it were
perfect. For Him only, that work counts which is in all respects
conformable to the divine law, that is, answers perfectly to all
God's commandments. Our works never do that, and therefore all
leaning upon our own works is condemned, and the Roman Catholic
church is cast out as Hagar, of whom it is written, "Cast out the
bond woman and her son, for the son of the bond woman shall not be
heir with the son of the free woman." (Gal. 4:30) Oh, may that
doctrine be preserved among us and continue from generation to
generation. May it ever be known among us, not only historically,
but also experimentally. The historical knowledge leaves us inwardly
a stranger to this doctrine that is so indispensable to our
salvation.
    
    It becomes so very different when those who are chosen by God
and purchased by the blood of Christ are summoned by the Holy Spirit
to appear before the judgment seat of God. All their righteousnesses
become as filthy rags; not only are they insufficient to pay one
penny of their dreadful debt, but they even become glaring sins.
They see themselves subjected to the judgment of eternal death, the
avenger of blood pursues them as he did the manslayer in Israel.
Whatever they attempt, there is no escape. Their most zealous works
do not count. Their guilt increases daily, and they sincerely accept
the righteous sentence of death that is pronounced upon them.
    
    Comrie calls it a mark of grace when the soul submits to the
justice of God even though He should condemn him to hell eternally.
We should pay special attention to that acceptance of God's
sentence. The almost Christian never reaches that point, although
severe convictions of conscience sometimes cause him great anguish
for a time. Already in the beginning of true conviction the sinner
agrees with the judgment of God, and this, strange as it may seem,
gives some hope and liberty to ask the Lord for grace. Although
ministers might proclaim from the pulpit, "Believe and be
converted", such a soul could more easily reach the sky with his
hand than believe that he is saved in Christ. More and more his
works lose their value. His praying, his seeking, his zeal to keep
God's law circumspectly, and all his contrivances to escape the
sentence as condemnation is of no avail.
    
    My beloved, we learn experimentally that by the deeds of the law
no flesh shall be justified before God. The Lord delivers His people
out of their pharisaic holiness, in order that they may learn to
know Christ by faith and find their righteousness before God in Him
alone. If only God's justice in His inexorable demand of perfect
satisfaction is impressed upon our soul, our works will vanish more
and more, and the avenger of blood will continue to pursue until we
have entered the city of refuge and are acquitted by the divine
sentence. Then all works fall away as ground for justification,
including works of faith, such as longing, waiting, pleading upon
God's promises, and others. In justification no works are taken into
account. In God's balances only the perfect satisfaction of Christ
has weight. Those who come with their works, whether they are
Papists, or Armenians, or Moralists - who basically are but
disguised Arminians - or persons of Reformed persuasion who build
upon their baptism, or profession, or upon their pious lives,
prayers and the impressions received, will find themselves deceived.
Some day they shall hear, "Thou art weighed in the balances and art
found wanting." The truth is painful to our nature. It cuts off all
that man wishes to present to God.
    
    It cannot be stated too strongly that our works are entirely
excluded in the matter of justification. To many this may sound like
harsh language, but they who have been savingly convinced of their
sins and summoned to appear before God as their Judge to give an
account of their deeds, heartily assent to it. Lost sinners are
saved without their works, by grace alone, because of the merits of
Him Who disarmed the law of its curse and has reconciled His elect
to God. He rendered the perfect obedience that God demanded. No
sigh, no tear, nor anything of man counts in justification.
    
    Our opponents say that God will nevertheless reward good works,
not only in this life, but even in life eternal. That reward is not
denied by what we have said. On the contrary it is affirmed. Let us
then observe in the second place that the doctrine of free
justification before God, acknowledges the reward of good works.
    
    II
    
    This is explained to us in question sixty-three which reads:
"What! do not our good works merit, which yet God will reward in
this and in a future life?" Although the answer of the instructor
acknowledges this reward, it shows that good works do not earn it,
but that it is granted by grace. Scripture speaks very clearly of
that reward. God said to Abraham, "I am thy shield and thy exceeding
great reward." (Gen. 15:1) Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ to
be greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, "for he had respect
to the recompence of the reward." (Hebr. 11:26), and whoever he may
be, "he that comets to God must believe that He is, and that He is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." (Hebr. 11:6) Therefore
the Lord said in Matt. 5:12 to those who were despised and
persecuted for His sake, "Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad; for
great is your reward in heaven." And the church in Sardis had a few
names which had not defiled their garments; "and they shall walk
with Me (says Christ) in white, for they are worthy." So we see it
is definitely true that God will reward good works, both in this
life, and in the life to come, to shame those that live in sin. "And
in the keeping of His word there is a great reward."
    
    The adversary, from the Pelagian to the Semi-Pelagian or the
Papist, would therefore have won the argument of the merit of good
works, if this reward were given according to merit. But that is not
so. Therefore their doctrine of good works has no basis. For rewards
are either of two kinds; namely, of grace or of merit. I mention
just one example.
    
    Consider the laborers in the vineyard of which we read in Matt.
20. The five groups of laborers mentioned there are of two kinds
when payment is made. They all receive one penny, but that penny is
not the same for each of them. Those that were sent first, with whom
the householder had made the agreement, receive the wages they had
earned. They receive a fair wage. They murmur, but without a cause.
"Friend," said the Lord, "I do thee no wrong, didst thou not agree
with me for one penny? Take that is thine (what you have earned
honestly) and go thy way." Here, therefore, the reward was of merit.
All the other laborers went to work in the vineyard without an
agreement. They must wait to see what the lord of the vineyard will
give them. If they receive a penny, it was not earned. Their penny
was a reward of grace, and the more so since they worked fewer
hours. The lord of the vineyard gave them of his own with which he
does what he will. Thus the Lord rewards His elect with the penny of
grace. This becomes still clearer when the Lord by this parable
takes all merit out of the disciples' following of Him and shows
them that they are saved by virtue of God's sovereign election. He
concludes the parable of the laborers in the vineyard with the
words, "So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many be
called, but few chosen."
    
    The disciples shall not be saved because of their following of
Jesus; the children of God as the chosen of God shall not inherit
eternal life because of the grace received and the fruit thereof
shown in their works, but by sovereign grace alone because of the
eternal good pleasure of the Father. Not only did the rich young man
with all his works fall short but the disciples and all God's
children find every ground in their own works washed away.
    
    This makes the way of salvation so narrow for God's people. They
cannot stand before God with their experiences and their exercises
of soul, however much refreshment may lie in them, nor with the
precious promises given them, nor with their following of Christ.
Oh, how deep the significance is of the words, "By grace are ye
saved." Even the works of God's favorites do not avail. May the Lord
reveal it to us more and more, and may He keep us and our children
faithful to the pure doctrine that the reward of good works is not
of merit, but of grace.
    
    There can be no thought of merit when we consider the relation
in which man stands to his Creator. "When ye shall have done all
those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable
servants; we have done that which was our duty to do." God demands
perfect obedience because He has created us after His image; and
though we should render Him that perfect obedience (although this is
impossible to fallen man) we still could not claim merit. When the
Lord promised life in the state of innocence, it was by virtue of
the Covenant of Works made with Adam, and in him with all his
posterity, in which He opened the way to develop the full glory
given him in creation. If you consider the works in themselves as
our duty of keeping the law, there can be no thought as merit or of
a demand by man for payment from God. Much less, then, can such a
demand be made by fallen man who is worthy of death, and who has by
sin entirely corrupted himself in soul and body. How can he bring
forth anything for which he may demand a reward? The reward of good
works is given by virtue of the Covenant of grace to them that shall
be heirs of salvation.
    
    The people that are renewed by the Holy Spirit bring forth
fruits meet for faith and repentance. They themselves are pleasing
to God in Christ, and therefore, their works are pleasing also. "The
Lord had respect unto Abel (first Abel) and to his offering, but
unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect." Its value for God
lay not in the work, but in grace for Christ's sake. Therefore you
read in Rev. 14:13 "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from
henceforth." "Yea," saith the Spirit, "that they may rest from their
labors, and their works do follow them."
    
    This reward of grace is the comfort for God's people in their
affliction and misery. Scorn and reproach is often their portion in
this life. Sometimes they are rejected by their father and mother
because of the truth, but this is counterbalanced by the reward of
communion with God's children, God's blessing in their life and the
Lord's mercy in their hearts which strengthens them more than choice
foods. Some day their souls shall enter into peace, and their works
shall follow them. Their works shall not precede them, for they are
not a ground of ones righteousness before God nor a part of it. They
shall be rewarded as it is written in Matt. 25 so very differently
from those who want to count their merits by naming them one by one.
"Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye
blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world; for I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat;
I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took
Me in; naked, and ye clothed Me; I was sick, and ye visited Me; I
was in prison, and ye came unto Me. Then shall the righteous answer
Him saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, and fed Thee? or
thirsty and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger and took
Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee? Or when saw we Thee sick, or in
prison, and came unto Thee? And the King shall answer and say unto
them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the
least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." God will
reward their works, not according to merit, but of grace; and that
makes it the greater wonder. This reward of good works therefore
cannot be the basis for the doctrine of the meritorious value of
good works. On the contrary all of its grounds are taken away
because the reward is only of grace. Grace entirely excludes works
as a ground for justification. Thus the Papists and all those who
ascribe merit to good works are disarmed. Will they surrender now?
Far from it. Hear what the Catechism says in the third place about
the necessity of good works.
    
    III
    
    The enemies of the doctrine of free grace scoff and say that
this doctrine would lead to careless and offensive lives. The
instructor answers that charge when he teaches that although good
works are not meritorious they are still necessary. Question 64
therefore reads, "But does not this doctrine make men careless and
profane?" As you can feel, it is the same slander that was brought
against the preaching of the gospel in Paul's days. Then already
there were some that slandered the doctrine of free grace, and
caused the apostle to write in Rom. 3:8, "And shall we not rather
say (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say)
Let us do evil, that good may come?"
    
    And what answer did Paul give those slanderers? "Whose damnation
is just." This damnation is pronounced upon those who misuse free
grace to give occasion to the flesh. This text alone should be
sufficient to close the mouth of the slanderer. The reproach is
effectively refuted. If anywhere the doctrine of justification is
taught with the exclusion of all works of men, it is in the Epistle
to the Romans. In that very epistle Paul includes in his
condemnation those who would do evil that good might come. He
concludes that same chapter with the words, "Do we then make void
the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law." To
mention no more, after the apostle had taught justification by faith
so clearly in the preceding chapter, he comes back to this matter in
Romans 6 saying, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin,
that grace may abound?" And again he rejects this slanderous thought
with the words, "God forbid."
    
    No, indeed, this doctrine does not make careless and profane
people who continue in sin. "How shall we that are dead to sin, live
any longer therein?" In justification one is planted in Christ, else
His righteousness could never become ours, but the consequence then
must be that justification without any works of ours does not make
men careless and profane. Just as the instructor answers the
question quoted above, "By no means: for it is impossible that those
who are implanted into Christ by a true faith, should not bring
forth fruits of thankfulness." That should silence all those
Pelagians, Papists, and others that glory in their works; all who
are enemies of sovereign grace, and who like the elder son are very
angry when a prodigal waster, a lost, guilty sinner is accepted and
reconciled with God by grace alone. They work for wages, not for
God; heaven is their highest aim, but their end shall be eternal
perdition.
    
    Sanctification is inseparably connected with justification.
Nevertheless these two benefits are different. Already in our youth
Hellenbroek taught us that this difference is threefold; (1)
Justification is an act without us, but sanctification within us.
(2) Justification removes the guilt of sin, but sanctification its
pollution. (3) The act of justification is complete, but
sanctification, during this life is not complete.
    
    As we heard in Lord's Day 23, justification takes place without
us in Christ. It is the acquittal by God in eternity and in the
resurrection of Christ, of which the Holy Spirit gives the elect
sinner knowledge, and whereof He assures him. In justification the
guilt of sin is pardoned but we are also entirely polluted, and that
pollution is washed away in sanctification. Thirdly, justification
is complete, for God does not justify a man only half, but He
acquits him completely from his sins and grants him a right to life
eternal. But sanctification is imperfect in this life. Even though
the church of God is perfect in Christ, sin cleaves unto her until
her last breath; the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh. Although these two benefits, which the Roman
church confuses, are different, they are not to be separated from
each other. Christ is given not only for justification, but also for
sanctification. They that die with Him shall also live with Him.
Both benefits go together from regeneration on to the exercises of
faith. He who would glory in justification, but has no desire to
observe God's law, deceives himself. Paul includes the Antinomian in
his condemnation. Therefore the Roman Catholic accusation against
justification without works is false. Those who are implanted into
Christ by a true faith shall bring forth fruits worthy of repentance
and faith. It cannot be otherwise. It is impossible that this should
not take place.
    
    No, good works are not the ground for justification, but they
are the fruits of sanctification which cannot be separated from
justification. Good works are therefore not excluded, and God's
people yearn after communion with Christ by faith that they may
abide in Him, and bring forth much fruit. "I follow after," says
Paul, "if that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of
Christ." And he was called to strive after perfection, namely, to
eternally praise and glorify God, as all of God's people are. All of
God's people seek that perfection which they shall one day attain in
eternal glory. The accusation that the doctrine of justification
without works makes men careless and profane is so false that on the
contrary it causes them to press toward the mark for the prize of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, and those who are perfect
(established in their state in Christ) are thus minded. (Phil. 3:15)
This causes those that are justified to desire continually the
ministration of the Holy Spirit who fulfills the promise, "I will
cause them to walk in My statutes."
    
    Come let us sing with the psalmist of Psalm 119:
    
        "O let Thy Spirit be my constant aid,
        That all my ways may ever be directed
        To keep Thy statutes, so to be obeyed,
        That from all error I may be protected.
        I shall not be ashamed then or afraid,
        When Thy commandments I have e'er respected."
                            Psalter No. 428 stanza 2
    
    Application
    
    Are there then no careless or profane people even among them
that speak of the free grace of God? Yes, indeed, there are such
people. They are a disgrace, who, contrary to their confession, and
while pretending to have become partakers of Christ, live in sin and
draw others away from the paths of righteousness. Yes, there are
such: antinomians, who affirm that we need not be so particular
about our works. Has Christ not died for our sins? In the church of
Pergamus they were called, "Them that hold the doctrine of Balaam,
who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of
Israel to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit
fornication." "So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the
Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate," says the Lord. O, that it might
fall as a stroke of thunder upon their soul; God hates their works,
and if they do not repent He will fight against them with the sword
of His mouth. He that has an ear, let him hear!
    
    Although there always have been and always will be to the end of
time, people who misuse the doctrine of justification without works
to give occasion to the flesh, that doctrine itself gives no license
for a careless and profane life. On the contrary, it admonishes us
to bear fruit as branches in Christ, the vine. Soon, in Lord's Day
32, we hope to return to this subject, so we will now make only
these remarks, desiring that God will keep us with the pure
doctrine.
    
    Let us turn to ourselves. Have we ever learned by the light of
the Spirit of God to cast away our works as ground for justification
before God? Was that the practice of our heart? Have our best works
ever become sin before God? Oh, do not be too easy about sin; do not
think, "A person must have something." Soon before God's judgment
seat we must give an account of every idle word that we have spoken.
Even if we became as the rich young man or as Paul who lived
blameless according to the law, our works are not found perfect
before God. We must become partakers of Christ and His righteousness
by a true faith, or the eternal judgment of death will soon be
executed upon us. My unconverted hearer, may it bring you to a
standstill before the day of grace shall have passed.
    
    Oh, what a discovery lies in this doctrine of free grace for the
people of God. Oh, worried souls who are still seeking to satisfy
God with your works, may the Lord take all your grounds away from
you, so that you might seek your salvation in Christ alone, and that
you could find no rest until you are hidden in Him. May the Lord
also show you more and more by discovering grace your lack of
conformity to that perfection of which the Lord said, "Be ye
therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect." The holiest men have but a small beginning of it, and in
their own strength God's people cannot conquer one sin. In communion
of faith with Christ they are more than conquerors. The Lord grant
us then to abide in Him. "Abide in Me and I in you; as the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more
can ye, except ye abide in Me." Oh, may the Lord cause us to
understand the words, "Without Me, ye can do nothing", so that we
may shun all that tends to draw us away from Him, and be privileged
more and more to abide in Him so as to bear much fruit. Thus you
will glory in being justified only by grace without any work and
still show in all your conversation that this doctrine does not make
men careless and profane, but that the Father is glorified in you,
enabling you to bear much fruit. Amen.




Of the Author of Faith and the Means of Grace Appointed by Him

Lord's Day 25


Psalter No. 322 st. 3, 4
Read Romans 10
Psalter No. 102 st. 2, 3
Psalter No. 278 st. 1, 2
Psalter No. 290 st. 3, 4


Beloved,

    In John 3:36 the Lord Himself distinguishes between those who
will be saved and those who will be lost by saying, "He that
believeth on the Son has everlasting life, and he that believeth not
on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him."
Here the Lord declares in the first place the deep state of man's
misery, viz., the wrath of God rests upon him. Because of their deep
fall in Adam all people are children of wrath by nature and lie
under the righteous judgment of the threefold death. They are lost.
Even of the elect Paul tells us that by nature they are children of
wrath even as all others. The wrath of God abides upon everyone who
is not incorporated in Christ by a true faith. Throughout all the
ages of eternity the wrath of God shall burn upon them as a fire
that shall not be quenched. Out of that state of misery, however,
the Lord Jesus redeems His own according to the pleasure of the Lord
which shall prosper in His hand. To that end He gave Himself as a
sacrifice for their sins. He has pacified the wrath of God for them,
and by a true communion with Him He places them in a state of actual
reconciliation with God. However great their sins may be, however
terrible their enmity against God and His people, although with Paul
they breathe out threatening and slaughter, the blood of Christ is
abundantly sufficient to atone for their sins and for the sins of
the whole world.
    
    Yet the whole world will not be saved by Him. "For this was the
sovereign counsel, and most gracious will and purpose of God the
Father, that the quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious
death of His Son should extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon
them alone the gift of justifying faith, thereby to bring them
infallibly to salvation" (Canons of Dordt: 2nd Head, Art. 8). And
that faith, being the gift of God, is faith in the Son of God which
makes us inherit eternal life in Him. "He that believeth on the Son
has eternal life." God's own and natural Son has life in Himself. He
merited eternal life for His own in our human nature by bearing the
wrath of God for His elect, and He grants them that life because by
faith they are incorporated in Christ and receive all His benefits.
That is why it is called saving grace, although Christ alone is a
complete Savior and faith adds nothing at all to Him, as we heard in
the previous Lord's Day. God's people are not justified because of
their faith, but only because of the perfect satisfaction,
righteousness and holiness of Christ which is imputed to them by
free grace. Without faith, however, we can have no portion in Him,
and no man can be saved. Eternal life can be obtained only by faith.
"He that believeth in Me has everlasting life. In Me, not only
historically, acknowledging that I am come according to the
Scriptures, but in Me savingly, to seek and find salvation in Me,
and in Me alone."
    
    But if everlasting life depends on faith in Christ, how can we
obtain that faith? The twenty-fifth Lord's Day of our Heidelberg
Catechism gives us an answer to that question as it speaks of the
means of grace.
    
Q. 65: Since then we are made partakers of Christ and all His
    benefits by faith only, whence does this faith proceed?

A. From the Holy Ghost, who works faith in our hearts by the
    preaching of the gospel, and confirms it by the use of the
    sacraments.

Q. 66: What are the sacraments?

A. The sacraments are holy visible signs and seals, appointed of God
    for this end, that by the use thereof, He may the more fully
    declare and seal to us the promise of the gospel, viz., that He
    grants us freely the remission of sin, and life eternal, for
    the sake of that one sacrifice of Christ, accomplished on the
    cross.

Q. 67: Are both word and sacraments, then, ordained and appointed
    for this end, that they may direct our faith to the sacrifice
    of Jesus Christ on the cross, as the only ground of our
    salvation?

A. Yes, indeed: for the Holy Ghost teaches us in the gospel, and
    assures us by the sacraments, that the whole of our salvation
    depends upon that one sacrifice of Christ which He offered for
    us on the cross.

Q. 68: How many sacraments has Christ instituted in the new
    covenant, or testament?

A. Two: namely, holy baptism, and the holy supper.

    This Lord's Day discusses the Author of faith and the means of
grace appointed by Him and it draws our attention
    
      I. to the preaching of the holy gospel by which the Holy Ghost
         works faith in the heart;
    
     II. to the power of the sacraments which are instituted;
    
    III. to the purpose of the means of grace.
    
    I
    
    When the Lord Jesus was ready to ascend to heaven and had
gathered His disciples upon a mountain in Galilee to which He had
directed them, He gave them this commandment: "Go ye, therefore, and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." During the Old Testament
dispensation the oracles of God were committed to the Jews while the
blind heathen were allowed by God to continue in their idolatry. But
now, not only to the Jews, but also to these strangers of the Gospel
the word must be preached, because the ceremonies were fulfilled in
Christ and Israel as a specially privileged nation had had its day.
Yes, the natural branches were broken off and the heathens were
grafted into the olive tree in order that the entrance of the
heathens might eventually provoke Israel to jealousy, and the full
number of the elect out of all peoples, tongues and nations should
be saved.
    
    To that end all peoples must be taught, and the disciples must
reach all. For the Lord works faith by means of the preaching of the
gospel, and He strengthens it by the same Word as well as by the use
of the sacraments, as the Catechism speaks in accordance with
Scripture. The Word and the sacraments are therefore called the
means of grace. The Lord, according to His sovereign good pleasure
has ordained these means to work and strengthen faith. The Word has
a two-fold operation while the sacraments have only one. The
preaching of the gospel serves both to work and to strengthen faith,
but the sacraments only to strengthen faith. Baptism does not
regenerate and one does not go to the Lord's Supper to be converted.
Only those who are partakers of the new life are invited to the
Lord's table.
    And how is faith strengthened by holy baptism? Since God by
baptism establishes His Covenant and promises, He reassures His
believing people that He remembers His Covenant forever, so that
they may be more and more assured for themselves and for the coming
of God's Kingdom that the Lord will fulfill what He has promised.
Since the working and strengthening of faith is accomplished by
these means, it is evident that we as well as God's people are bound
to the use of the means. You cannot say, "God can convert me in a
tavern or at a circus," while you despise the means of grace, but
for the salvation of your soul you are obligated to go with your
children to the preaching of God's Word and to meditate on that
Word. God's people are also bound to the means of grace, that they
may be built up in their most holy faith, and may not go astray in
their own light, nor float upon feelings that mislead.
    
    How clearly the Lord Himself tells us by His servant Paul,
"Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." When the
Word of God is lacking, the means are lacking by which God the Holy
Spirit works faith in the hearts of lost sinners. If there is one
reason why the gospel must be brought to the heathens it is this. In
the words which the Lord spoke to His disciples: "Go ye, therefore,
and teach all nations," lies the missionary command, and when the
church of God is unfaithful to this calling, it gives the thousands
of blind heathens over to themselves, and deprives them of the means
which God the Holy Spirit uses to work true saving faith in their
hearts. All objections to this commandment are futile. There are
indeed hundreds of "heathens" in our own country; but whoever uses
this argument against mission work, not only disregards the fact
that all those estranged from God and His service are in the
possibility of hearing the Word of God, but is also guilty of an
inconsistency, since he makes no attempt to help those "heathens."
He sets up an argument which he does not wish to use himself. Should
not our souls be grieved because of the guilt that rests upon us?
Should not our debt to the heathens weigh heavily upon us, when we
consider that thousands die without ever having had the possibility
of being saved? "How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not
heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" (Rom. 10:14)
    
    The Holy Spirit works faith by the Word that is heard. He opened
the heart of Lydia during the preaching of Paul so that she attended
unto the things which were spoken by Paul. The Word is the seed of
regeneration. Does not Peter say clearly, "Being born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which
liveth and abideth forever"? Also James serves as proof when he
writes, "Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth." By the
preaching of the Word to the Galatians Paul sought to travail again
in birth until Christ was formed in them. (Gal. 4:19) He had
begotten the Corinthians in Christ through the gospel. (1 Cor. 4:15)
    
    Thus it cannot be contradicted what the instructor tells us in
this Lord's Day, that God by His Spirit and His Word works faith in
the hearts of God's elect. It is by His Spirit and His Word, for the
preached Word alone, however earnestly and sincerely it is
presented, cannot change our hearts. Therefore we distinguish
between an internal and external calling through God's Word. In
contradistinction to the Lutherans and others, we hold that in
nature there is no calling to salvation. Only by His Word God makes
the way of salvation known to all those to whom the gospel is
preached. Yea, by His servants He urges them, as Paul says, "Now
then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by
us; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."
    
    However seriously the judgment of condemnation is presented and
the invitation is laid at our heart's door by the gospel, yet that
Word does not bring forth fruits of conversion in all men. The Lord
Jesus Himself tells us in the parable of the laborers in the
vineyards, "Many are called, but few are chosen." Only in the elect
does the Holy Spirit prepare a soil in which the Word shall bear
fruit. And yet no one can lay the blame upon God if He hardens the
heart under the preaching of the gospel. The fault lies with us, for
the Word contains the complete revelation of God for our salvation.
Our fathers of Dordt confessed, "The cause or guilt of this unbelief
as well as of all other sins, is no wise in God, but in man himself;
whereas faith in Jesus Christ and salvation through Him is the free
gift of God, as it is written: 'By grace ye are saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,' Eph. 2:8 'And
unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on
Him,' etc. Phil. 1:29" (Canons of Dordt 1st Head, Art. 5)
    
    This is the preciousness of the true Reformed doctrine, while
maintaining man's responsibility it gloriously displays the free
grace of God in saving sinners. Everyone that lives under the
preaching of the Word is externally called to salvation by God, and
only by willfully rejecting it and hardening his heart will he
deprive himself of it; and the Word that was brought to him will
testify against him. Unbelief, which prevents him from bowing in the
dust before the Word is his own fault. Oh, how that Word shall
eternally burn upon his soul; it shall be a savor of death to death.
    
    Nevertheless, true faith proceeds from the Holy Ghost, Who works
it in our hearts. To believe in Christ is therefore not a work of
our own. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual
judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man." (1 Cor.
2:14, 15) In order to understand the things of the Spirit of God, in
other words, to believe them, to delight in them and to rest upon
them, we must become regenerated, spiritual persons. In regeneration
God the Holy Ghost plants faith in the souls of the elect. In
opposition to those who make of the sovereign work of God a duty by
urging men to believe, and who in reality lay the foundation of
salvation in a historical assent to the truth, this answer of the
instructor cannot be emphasized sufficiently. Urging people to go to
Jesus with their sins, to accept Him and to believe in Him have
become common place in our days. But how shall we go to Him if our
sins have not been discovered to us, if our enmity has not been
broken, if our own righteousness has not become as a filthy rag
before God. "No man can come unto Me," said Christ, "except the
Father which has sent Me, draw him." And lest we should seek to hide
behind our inability, He said plainly, "Ye will not come to Me, that
ye might have life."
    
    To come to Jesus by faith must be given to the sinner by the
Father, and wrought in him by the Holy Spirit, Who works faith. All
education, instruction, understanding of the truth, orthodox
confession, or whatever else, are insufficient, because all, however
good and necessary they may be, are unable to break our enmity.
Because of the hardness of our hearts it is impossible for us to
believe. We are in a state of unbelief, and it is our own fault that
we can expect nothing but the terrible reproof uttered to the city
of the great King, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the
prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would
I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings, and ye would not." Unbelief comes from us;
faith comes from the Holy Spirit.
    
    How then can the Lord by the preaching of the gospel offer
Christ to the reprobate whom He has foreordained to condemnation
according to His inflexible justice? Is such an offer sincere?
Indeed it is, since God first of all seeks His honour as well in the
just retribution of the disobedient, as in the glorification of His
mercies in those who by His Word and Spirit shall become heirs of
salvation The Lord will be more glorified in those that are lost
according as He by His Word showed them the way of life, and it is
the joy and comfort of God's servants that the Lord is glorified as
well in those that are lost, as in those that are saved. Although
the preaching bears little fruit, although few or no people are
converted under their ministry, although they must cry out with
Isaiah, "Who has believed our report and unto whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed?" let it not hinder them in their faithful labors,
since Paul has planted and Apollo has watered, but God gives the
increase. According to His good pleasure that fruit tends to the
glory of God. Thus they are only servants of God to fulfill the task
laid upon them by the Lord. Neither he that plants is anything, nor
he that waters. God does what He pleases with His Word, and in the
unconditional surrender to the good pleasure of God, the minister
finds his happiness and courage and comfort. If he lacks that
surrender he will be in great danger of trying to convert men
himself and glorying in it instead of seeking that God might be
glorified in him.
    
    However, God wants to draw His elect by the preaching of the
gospel and to grant them faith. The reason why God grants faith to
some and not to others lies in His eternal decree, according to
which He graciously softens the hearts of the elect, however hard
they may be, and convinces them to believe. Thus the preaching of
the Word becomes the power of God unto salvation. The gospel, which
is the entire Word, the full counsel of God for the salvation of His
elect, abases the sinner. As a hammer it breaks the stony heart to
pieces. God works irresistibly. Although we breathe out threatening
and slaughter against the Anointed of the Lord, although we shout
with all our might, "Let us break their bands asunder and cast away
their cords from us", the Word has an all conquering power.
    
    Oh, what contrition does the Word produce when it is preached to
us; what a powerful conviction that we are worthy of death before
God. But when faith comes into exercise as wrought by God in the
heart, what a blessed happiness does the Word produce as Christ is
preached Who is the way, the truth, and the life and Who reveals
Himself to the wretched sinner as the cause of his eternal
salvation. Now let God's people testify what draws their souls to
the preaching of the gospel, other than the revelation of Christ.
What gladdens their hearts more than when their faith in Him is
stirred up by and under the preaching of God's testimony. For it is
the Holy Spirit that strengthens and increases the faith once
wrought in the heart, using as means to that end not only that same
Word, but also the sacraments. Thus the Word has a double use, but
the sacraments have only a single use. The Word as preached is the
milk of babes and the strong meat for adults. No one is too little
in faith to receive benefit from the preaching for the strengthening
of his faith, nor is anyone too far advanced in grace to hear the
preaching and receive from it an increase in Christ Jesus. If the
Holy Spirit makes the Word fruitful it will serve for the salvation
of the unconverted and it will be meat for God's people who sing,
        "Sweeter are Thy words to me
        Than all other good can be."
        
    Now let us in the second place consider
    
    II
    
the power of the sacraments that are instituted.
    
    The word sacrament does not appear in the Bible. The Catholic
Church asserts that it does, and to prove it refers not to God's
Word as given in the original but to the Vulgate, a translation of
the New Testament from the Greek into the Latin, in which Ephesians
5:32 is translated to read, "This is a great sacrament." From this
translation Rome concludes that the word sacrament is indeed in the
Bible, and therefore that marriage is also a sacrament. This is all
beside the point, for Ephesians 5 does not say "this sacrament," but
"This is a great mystery." A mystery is not a sacrament. You do not
find the word sacrament in the Bible. This does not mean that we may
not use the word sacrament, but we must understand what sacraments
are according to the Scriptures: "holy, visible signs and seals,
appointed of God for this end, that by the use thereof, he may more
fully declare and seal to us the promise of the gospel."
    
    The sacraments therefore have something visible; they can be
perceived by the eye, as it is with the water in baptism and the
bread and wine in the Lord's Supper. The sacraments are not only
spiritual, they have also a material side. Therefore it is not to
hold the Lord's Supper when children of God may in their solitude
enjoy blessed communion with God in Christ alone, and the Lord
grants them to experience, "I will sup with him, and he with Me."
However great that privilege may be the sacrament must be
administered in the midst of the congregation. When Christ
prescribed that the administration of it is to continue until His
return upon the clouds, He taught us at the same time that the
church will also have a visible manifestation until the end of time,
however sad her condition may become. The visible signs portray the
spiritual reality represented in the sacrament, in which there is a
striking resemblance. What can signify purification better than
water? What can signify nourishment better than bread and wine? How
fitting it is then that the water in baptism signifies the cleansing
from sin by the blood and Spirit of Jesus, and that the bread and
wine point to Christ as the nourishment of His people and the
refreshment of their souls by His crucified body and shed blood.
    
    The sacrament is, however, more than a sign. They who see in it
no more than a sign make the sacrament superficial, as did Zwingli
and the Arminians. The Catechism teaches us clearly that the
sacraments are signs and seals, and it is not hard to prove this
assertion with God's Word. Has not Abraham according to Romans 4:11
received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of
faith? Thus Abraham was assured that he had been justified by faith.
Circumcision did not justify Abraham but served to confirm the faith
by which he had obtained the righteousness in Christ. Thus for
Abraham the sacrament of circumcision was not only a sign, but also
a seal of his justification in Christ. By this example, the
superficial view which underestimates the value of the sacraments is
condemned, as well as the Catholic view (and partly also the
Lutheran) which overestimates their value. For Rome links grace to
the sacrament. It asserts that by administering the sacrament it
confers grace to him who receives the sacrament. So the doctrine of
the sacraments is darkened on both sides.
    
    Sacraments can give nothing, but are signs and seals instituted
by God. How could any sign have a sealing power if it had not been
instituted by God? Rome may speak of so many sacraments, and exalt
confirmation, penance, extreme unction, orders and marriage to
sacraments, but they have no value, since God has instituted none
other than Baptism and the Lord's Supper for the church of the New
Testament, as Circumcision and the Passover were for the Old
Testament. The Old Testament bloody sacraments pointed to Christ who
was to come, while both of the non-bloody sacraments of the New
Covenant seal the grace and salvation merited by Christ. Their value
depends on the divine institution. Without that no mystery has any
sacramental power, but with it the sacraments are signs and seals to
more fully declare and seal unto us the promise of the gospel.
    
    Thus the sacraments instruct and seal. The sign makes us
understand the promise of the gospel more clearly. In the preaching
of the Word the promises of God are presented to us, being in Christ
yea and Amen to the glory of God. That preaching testifies of the
reconciliation and cleansing by the blood of Christ: It cries to
God's people, "Ye are bought with a price, forasmuch as ye know that
ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,
from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
but with the precious blood of Christ." It says that for Christ's
sake God will not be angry with them nor rebuke them. But our
susceptibility for these promises, and for Christ's mediatorial work
is so slight, the knowledge of faith is so dim, and the mystery of
which the church shall sing forever is so incomprehensible that we
will need again and again a clear revelation and plain instruction.
    
    The Lord gave the sacraments in order that we might better
understand the promises of the gospel. By the operation of the Holy
Spirit during the administration of the sacrament one may be
favoured with a deep insight into what Christ has become for lost
sinners, and into the promises of God which proclaim salvation to
those who are tossed with tempest and not comforted. Moreover, in
addition to the instruction of the Spirit there is in the sacrament
a sealing power. The want of clear, spiritual instruction causes us
to lack so much the sealing power of the sacrament. Often the cause
of the doubts in which many souls frequently are subjects of, is due
to the scanty spiritual knowledge of Christ and His promises. But as
soon as light is shed upon them, the heart is enlarged and given
liberty to believe. Although there have always been only a few (as
was also the opinion of Rev. Comrie) who come to a full assurance of
their interest in Christ, nevertheless in the fruit of faith it
becomes evident to them that assurance follows faith. It is
especially by means of the sacrament that it pleases God to seal His
grace and promises. He calls as it were to the soul, "I am thy
salvation." Often in this effectual opening and sealing (of the
promise) lies Christ's answer to the cry of the bride, "Set me as a
seal upon Thine heart, as a seal upon Thine arm." For in the
sacrament God opens and seals to His people "That He grants us
freely the remission of sins, and life eternal for the sake of that
one sacrifice of Christ, accomplished on the cross." So powerful is
the language of God in the sacrament. Oh how our heart should be
drawn to it to rest by faith in Christ alone, and by His one
sacrifice accomplished on the cross, to find reconciliation with the
Father.
    
    Consider the water of baptism, or the bread and wine of the
Lord's Supper. In them we find represented not only the cleansing,
reconciling, and nourishing power of the sacrifice of Christ, but
also the path which Christ trod in order to be the Author of
salvation for His people. He broke His body, as the bread is broken.
He shed His blood as the wine is poured out. He did it for the lost
children of Adam to save them from eternal perdition. Those are the
wounds with which He was wounded in the house of His friends. Your
sins, Oh people of God, could not rest until Christ entered into
death. Behind the Jew's demand, "Crucify Him, crucify Him", was the
guilt of your sins, which made you worthy of death before God. Now
by means of the sacrament, Christ wants to seal to your heart that
He entered into death for you, in order that you may taste the fruit
of reconciliation with the Father. How precious the sacraments will
become if we may understand something of their significance, and
something of the purpose for which God has instituted them, "that by
the use thereof, He may the more fully declare and seal to us the
promise of the gospel."
    
    The sacraments are therefore closely connected with the
preaching of the Word. They clarify and confirm the promises of the
gospel for God's people. The preaching of the gospel and the
administration of the sacraments serve the same purpose.
    
    That is our third main point. Question 67 speaks of the purpose
of the means of grace.
    
    III
    
    The question reads, "Are both Word and sacraments, then,
ordained and appointed for this end, that they may direct our faith
to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, as the only ground of
our salvation? Yes indeed."
    
    The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the only ground of salvation.
There is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must
be saved, and it is the function of Word and sacrament to direct us
to that sacrifice. Neither Word nor sacrament can of itself give
anything. The church of Rome, which does not understand this truth,
is satisfied with outward things. For Rome, the outward
administration of the sacrament is the important thing upon which
everything depends, and in which saving power resides. This is
contrary to Scripture. The sacrament is only a means ordained by God
to strengthen our faith as it points to Christ, the only ground of
our salvation, to which the Word directs us according to God's own
appointment.
    
    Let us note this carefully. There is much preaching that does
not point to Christ. I do not mean the preaching of the modernists,
liberals, and others who deny Christ, but I have in mind especially
an administration of the Word (if indeed it may be called that) in
which more stress is laid on experience than on Christ. Do not
misunderstand me. Would I contend for a superficial preaching that
talks about Jesus but says nothing about the way in which the sinner
learns to know Him? Would I advocate the kind of preaching that
offers Jesus indiscriminately to all? God forbid! Objective
preaching alone bears bitter fruit, and it is one-sided, while it
fails to make the minister free from the blood of his hearers. No
less objectionable is the doctrine which has become so common in our
days, that the promises of the gospel are given to all men. No,
beloved, the promises of salvation are given to God's elect, and God
fulfills them at His time.
    
    But as serious as our objections are to this false preaching of
the gospel, no less serious are our objections to the preaching that
does not point to Christ, but builds souls upon innumerable
conditions, and visions, and emotions, and experiences in the
warfare against sin. Can anyone lay another foundation than that
which is laid? Who would dare to show another way than Jesus Christ
and Him crucified? May experience ever become the foundation? Will
not experiences which lack the impress of the Spirit fail? Therefore
God's people must examine themselves very closely whether their work
is true. Moreover, no preaching is evangelical if it does not direct
to Christ. The minister of the Word must lead the soul to Christ. It
must allure those whose sins have been discovered to them, by
presenting the Mediator in His preciousness as the All sufficient
Savior, Who calls to lost sinners, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," Who never rejects
anyone who comes to Him in truth, although his sins are scarlet and
crimson. A faithful minister will not conceal how indispensable it
is for our salvation to be a partaker of Christ in truth, and he
will insist as a pastor ought to, that we must be found in Christ,
not having our own righteousness but the righteousness that is in
Jesus Christ. In this way our reliance upon our experiences will be
taken away and we shall see Jesus only in the preaching of the Word.
The Word is directed, and what is more, it is ordained by God to
direct our faith to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the only ground
of our salvation. He who in his preaching does not comply with that
ordinance of God, is unfaithful in the service to which he was
ordained. He does not understand his ministry.
    
    The same holds true of the sacraments. They point to the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The water in baptism refers to that
sacrifice for the cleansing of our souls. Only the blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from our sins. The bread and wine of
the Lord's Supper direct us to the only sacrifice accomplished on
the cross. The bread is broken and the wine is poured out to show us
more clearly that Christ broke His body and shed His blood on the
cross in order that He might be the only meat for our empty souls.
He that seeks any other shall hunger eternally. This is God's
message to us in the Lord's Supper. Those who hunger and thirst
after righteousness the Lord wishes to direct to the salvation that
is in Him, and to assure them of it, in order that they shall never
more thirst. The Word and the sacraments have the same purpose to
teach, comfort, and establish His people.
    
    In the New Covenant or Testament the Lord has instituted two
sacraments, holy baptism and the Lord's Supper. What the church of
Rome has added are her own inventions, as we have already pointed
out. Those Romish sacraments are not of divine institution and
therefore lack the sacramental power. Oh, let us notice how Rome is
a total stranger to the true doctrine. We do not share a common root
of faith with Rome. If that were true our (Dutch) fathers would not
have had to shed their blood in the 80 Years War. The pretensions of
Rome in our country today also are so great that we must arm
ourselves lest we be delivered entirely into their hands. The main
issue is not the scaffold and the stake but true liberty, and the
authority of the gospel which is violated when Romish influence is
supreme. Or will the Lord smite us with our own rod and chastise our
Protestant country for its foolishness in making an alliance with
Rome? Is not what is called a coalition resulting in strengthening
the power of Rome, so that other nations were amazed at what Rome is
able to do in our country, and is not our sending a delegate to the
Pope, which is a denial of the puritan character of our nation, a
slap in the face of the God of our fathers, Who once delivered us
from Rome? Let us place the truth of God against the soul-destroying
doctrine of the Roman Catholics and make that truth more and more
familiar to ourselves and our children.
    
    The Lord in the New Testament gave us two sacraments, non bloody
ones, that refer us to the sacrifice already accomplished by Christ
on the cross, as the bloody sacraments of the Old Testament referred
to Christ Who was to come in the fulness of time. It is the nature
and the character of both the Word and the sacraments to point to
Christ, to the perfect redemption by His blood, and the cleansing by
His Spirit, to Him Who is the spiritual food for His people and
their continual refreshment and joy. He is the Surety and Mediator,
the only Savior of His people. He pacified the wrath of God and
restored them into communion with God, so that God Himself loves
them. Let us sing of that love out of Psalm 103.
    
         "The tender love a father has
         For all his children dear,
         Such love the Lord bestows on them
         Who worship Him in fear."
                   Psalter No. 278 stanzas 1 and 2
    
    Application
    
    Thus the minister must preach Christ and Him alone as the way of
salvation. With Paul he must say, "I determined not to know anything
among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." But, oh, my fellow
traveler to eternity, how severe will your condemnation be if you
should be lost under such preaching. Why? Must not God work faith in
us? We cannot convert ourselves, can we? No, we cannot, and they who
preach an offer of salvation which you have only to accept, are
misleading you. Nevertheless God does not deal with man as with a
stock or stone. In our fall we became neither devils, nor irrational
animals. God let us remain rational creatures, and will work in us
through His Word. Oh, may it please him to enlighten our dark
understandings and to renew our corrupt wills in order that the Word
may be of saving benefit to you. I pray you, use the means God has
given you. Do not despise the impressions that you sometimes feel in
your conscience. Do not stifle them. May the Lord humble you before
Him and grant that you may find salvation in the blood of the Lamb.
    
    Oh what precious moments are oftentimes experienced by God's
people under the preaching of the Word. No persons or things can
disturb them when a word is spoken to their hearts, and their souls
may admire the beauty of the Lord. May the necessity of winning
Christ be your most pressing concern. For your comfort look to the
fulness of His grace and the greatness of His love, that you may
embrace Him as your own by that faith which the Holy Spirit not only
works, but also strengthens through the means which He has ordained.
May the Lord bless those means and accompany them with His presence
in order that our walk and conversation may be with Him Whom we
expect from heaven for our complete salvation.
    
Amen.





The Relation of Holy Baptism to the Sacrifice of Christ

Lord's Day 26


Psalter No. 241 st. 1, 2,3
Read Matt. 28
Psalter No. 143 st. 2,3
Psalter No. 425 st. 5
Psalter No. 277 st. 3,4,5


Beloved,

    The Fifty-first Psalm is one of the penitential songs of King
David. He, the man after God's own heart, had fallen into very great
sins. He not only took Urijah's wife, but moreover, to cover his sin
in the eyes of the people, he killed her husband with the sword of
the children of Ammon. He ignored that sin for nine or ten months
until the prophet Nathan came to him and caused him to pronounce his
own death sentence. After he heard the story of the rich man taking
his neighbor's ewe lamb, David condemned the rich man to die. Then
Nathan said, "Thou art the man."
    
    God's people cannot live in sin; that means they cannot find
their enjoyment, their pleasure, their life in sin anymore. "How
shall we", says Paul, "live in sin if we are raised with Christ?"
"Although the weakness of the flesh cannot prevail against the power
of God, who confirms and preserves true believers in a state of
grace, yet converts are not always so influenced and actuated by the
Spirit of God, as not in some particular instances sinfully to
deviate from the guidance of divine grace, so as to be seduced by,
and comply with the lusts of the flesh" (Canons of Dort, 5th Head,
Art. 4), and are drawn to grievous and terrible sins. David, Peter,
and others written in the Scriptures prove this. With such gross
sins they provoke God greatly, they become guilty of death, they
grieve the Holy Spirit, break off for a time the exercise of faith,
seriously wound their conscience, and sometimes lose the feeling of
faith for a season. This caused David to confess in Psalm 32, "When
I kept silence (namely, about my sins, and did not confess them
before God) my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned
into the drought of summer. Selah."
    
    Even if God's people are kept from committing such sins as are
named in Scripture, they do not remain strangers of such sad
conditions. They are dark times in their lives. How can they get out
of that condition? The message, "Thou are the man," came to David.
God does not take His Holy Spirit entirely away from His people.
They cannot fall out of the state of grace and justification. "By
His Word and Spirit, He certainly and effectually renews them to
repentance, to a sincere and godly sorrow for their sins, that they
may seek and obtain remission in the blood of the Mediator, may
again experience the favour of a reconciled God" (Canons of Dort,
5th Head Art. 7.). God remains the Faithful One; unchangeable is His
love with which He loves His people according to His sovereign good
pleasure. The righteousness merited for them by Christ precludes
their ever again becoming objects of God's wrath, not even when His
Fatherly displeasure rests upon them. Therefore He shall redeem them
again and sanctify them in the blood and by the Spirit of Christ so
that they shall "more diligently work out their own salvation with
fear and trembling." For both justification and sanctification are
benefits of the irrevocable testament of grace which is of force in
the death of the Testator, is bequeathed to God's elect and is
promised to them in the gospel. Yea, to that gospel it has pleased
the Lord to bind the sacraments as seals of His unchangeable
faithfulness. In them the benefits are confirmed to God's people as
we shall now hear in the twenty-sixth Lord's Day, in which Holy
Baptism is explained as assuring them that the eternal sacrifice
accomplished on the cross is for their benefit. In that Lord's Day
the Instructor says:
    
Q. 69: How art thou admonished and assured by holy baptism, that the
    one sacrifice of Christ upon the cross is of real advantage to
    thee?

A. Thus: That Christ appointed this external washing with water,
    adding thereto this promise, that I am as certainly washed by
    His blood and Spirit from all the pollution of my soul, that
    is, from all my sins, as I am washed externally with water, by
    which the filthiness of the body is commonly washed away.

Q. 70: What is it to be washed with the blood and Spirit of Christ?

A. It is to receive of God the remission of sins, freely, for the
    sake of Christ's blood, which He shed for us by His sacrifice
    upon the cross; and also to be renewed by the Holy Ghost, and
    sanctified to be members of Christ, that so we may more and
    more die unto sin, and lead holy and unblamable lives.

Q. 71: Where has Christ promised us, that He will as certainly wash
    us by His blood and Spirit, as we are washed with the water of
    baptism?

A. In the institution of baptism, which is thus expressed: "Go ye,
    therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
    the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost", "he that
    believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that
    believeth not, shall be damned." This promise is also repeated,
    where the scripture calls baptism the washing of regeneration,
    and the washing away of sins.
    
    In Lord's Day 26, Holy Baptism is considered in relation to the
sacrifice of Christ, and that as Holy Baptism
    
      I admonishes and assures us of the benefit of Christ's sari
         tics;
    
     II explains the washing away of sins by Christ's sacrifice;
    
    III in its relationship to Christ's sacrifice is founded upon
         the promise of God.
    
    The previous Lord's Day spoke about the means of grace in
general, about the Word and the sacraments. For the Holy Spirit uses
both of these means in the heart of the elect, the Word to work
faith, and both Word and the sacraments to strengthen faith. That is
the value of the means of grace, they themselves cannot grant faith,
but God the Holy Spirit in His sovereign work wants to use them. In
Lord's Day 25 the Catechism finished the discussion of the preaching
of the gospel, but a very extensive explanation of the sacraments
follows in no less than five Lord's Days, of which two the 26th and
the 27th speak of baptism and the next three of the Lord's Supper.
That extensive discussion shows that our fathers deemed the right
doctrine of the sacraments of very great importance. Let us then
give close attention so that we may understand something of the
explanation offered us.
    
    Lord's Day 26 starts the discussion of baptism, to be continued
in Lord's Day 27, and extended to include infant baptism. We must
now consider baptism in relation to Christ's sacrifice and that as
baptism in the first place admonishes and assures us of the benefit
of Christ's sacrifice.
    
    In the very first place Lord's Day 26 asks, "How art thou
admonished and assured by holy baptism, that the one sacrifice of
Christ upon the cross is of real advantage to thee?" That question
asks about the benefit of Christ's sacrifice of which baptism
admonishes and assures us. Christ's sacrifice is the ground of
salvation; because of that sacrifice sinners are justified. But that
sacrifice must be applied to us, otherwise it is of no real
advantage to us. That application must be wrought by the Holy
Spirit, and embraced by faith. Baptism, it is hardly necessary to
say, cannot apply that sacrifice. Nevertheless in baptism, there
lies an admonition and assurance of the real advantage of Christ's
sacrifice for God's elect - an admonition to seek salvation in
Christ alone, and an assurance for all doubting souls that they may
find rest in Christ.
    
    How does baptism grant that admonition and assurance? "Thus,
that Christ appointed this external washing with water, adding
thereto this promise, that I am as certainly washed by His blood and
Spirit from all the pollution of my soul, that is, from all my sins,
as I am washed externally with water, by which the filthiness of the
body is commonly washed away." Hence, baptism is a washing with
water. The sign is common water that can symbolize cleansing in
Christ's blood, as under the Old Covenant much ceremonial washing
was done with common water to cleanse the seed of Jacob according to
the law of Moses. That washing also pointed to Jesus' blood as the
fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. Here, too, Rome is wrong when
it departs from the use of common water and uses water dedicated by
the bishop on Holy Saturday, thus seeking virtue in the signs, and
making the Word of God of none effect.
    
    "Baptism is a washing with water", says the Catechism, an
external washing. That, of course, refers to the sign. The thing
signified, the value of Holy Baptism as a whole, is no less than
Christ's blood and Spirit. The instructor first explains the
external sign, which is nothing but an external washing. Thus John
administered baptism with common water in Jordan. That baptism of
John was from heaven; essentially it was like our baptism. John was
sent by God to baptize (John 1:33) and his baptism was done by
divine command, and differed from the baptism of proselytes,
familiar in Israel, for those who would be incorporated out of
heathendom into Israel. The baptism of John was essentially one with
the sacrament of the New Testament and a sign and seal of the
remission of sins. That oneness is evident from the fact that the
Lord Jesus allowed John to baptize Him. This would not have happened
if the baptism of John did not have the value of the sacrament of
the New Covenant.
    
    Scripture nowhere makes a difference between the baptism of John
and that commanded by Christ in Matt. 28. The Catholic Council of
Trent, however, condemned those who teach that the baptism of John
has the same value as the sacrament of the New Testament. They teach
that the baptism administered by John was but a mere ceremony. An
appeal to Acts 19:1-7 has no value for this assertion. There Luke
tells us that Paul found twelve disciples at Ephesus who said they
had been baptized "unto John's baptism" but they had not even heard
that there was a Holy Ghost. Paul was said to have baptized them
again, which he would not have done if the baptism of John had been
a true baptism. However, we do not read that Paul baptized them
again. The marginal notes state that the fifth verse speaks of the
baptism by John. "When they heard this (of John) they were baptized
(by John) in the name of the Lord Jesus." Paul did not baptize them
again, but by the laying on of hands by Paul they received the
extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost which were unknown to them
till this time. In no case can the Catholic church appeal to Acts 19
to prove their contention that the baptism of John was essentially
different from the baptism of the New Covenant. It was the same
baptism of repentance and remission of sins.
    
    Baptizing was done by immersion or by sprinkling with clean
water, both forms of administration having the same meaning. Thus we
repeatedly read of sprinkling. To mention just a few in Ezek. 36:25
the Lord says, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye
shall be clean." Paul writes in Hebrews 12:24 about the blood of the
Lord Jesus as the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things
than that of Abel; and to mention no more, Peter speaks of the
"elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through
sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the
blood of Jesus Christ." Wouldn't the baptism of the family of the
jailer and of Cornelius, the centurion of Cesarea have been done by
sprinkling? The Christian church has acknowledged that sprinkling is
not contrary to the institution of baptism by Christ. Only a few
sects who seek to cover their errors by insisting on immersion have
rejected sprinkling; but the Christian church has never, neither
before nor after the Reformation disapproved of sprinkling, and that
is the mode used in all Reformed churches, whether the sprinkling is
done once or thrice.
    
    Baptism may take place only once. When our fathers were
delivered from the Catholic heresy in the Reformation they did not
repeat baptism, provided it was administered in the Name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, by an ordained
person. Baptism in the extremity which the Catholics use is
rejected, because a private person is not qualified to act in the
Name of a triune God. We hope to consider this further in the next
Lord's Day. The Lord Himself has instituted this external washing to
admonish and assure His people of the profit of His sacrifice. In
that institution Christ promised "that I am as certainly washed by
His blood and Spirit from all the pollution of my soul, that is,
from all my sins, as I am washed externally with water, by which the
filthiness of the body is commonly washed away."
    
    Now consider the submersion under the water as is done in
immersion or is symbolized in sprinkling. This submersion can show
us that we are lying entirely under sin, that the uncleanness of our
soul polluted us totally; that we are objects of God's wrath even
from the hour of our conception. Oh, how God's people must agree to
that! How deeply they learn to bow under the justice of God, as
deserving eternal death; and what deep sorrow they have because of
their sinfulness; how they must strive, not only against sin in the
world, but also against themselves; and with how many sighs they
long to be washed from all their sins so that they may perfectly
serve and glorify God. God has promised His children that, and that
promise is the ground of their hope which reaches out to perfect
glory. But that hope is subject to doubts and conflicts. Now God
wants to strengthen them, not only by giving a visible
representation of the cleansing by His blood and of the washing away
of all their sins, but also by sealing the promise of that blessing
to them. Water takes away the filthiness of the body. Thus Christ's
blood cleanses from all sins and brought about an eternal
reconciliation. May we be enabled to look upon baptism with an eye
of faith and embrace it in our heart.
    
    In baptism Christ seals His promise of perfect cleansing for His
people. What a comfort for those who are sad because of their sins!
Come now, you who are grieving in heart and mourning in spirit; here
Christ Himself testifies that He will cleanse your unclean soul and
can and shall do it in His blood as He seals it. That is the
relationship that lies between holy baptism and Christ's sacrifice:
that baptism admonishes and assures you of the profit that comes to
your soul from that sacrifice. How long we wander about outside of
Christ! He never turned anyone away. He invited the wretched and the
wicked that He might glorify His grace in them. God's people learn
to know themselves as wicked sinners. Yes, already in the moment
that God arrests them and shows them their guilt, but more and more,
as the Holy Ghost shows them the wickedness of their heart. No, evil
does not lie in the outward things; we are inwardly corrupt, leprous
from the crown of our head to the sole of our feet. How grievous sin
then becomes, how it hurts! How we hasten to be delivered from sin.
Whatever means are tried, all are ineffective to cleanse the soul.
The situation becomes worse instead of better. Oh, how God's
holiness burns upon them as a consuming fire.
    
    Yes, the debt must be paid, but their sins must also be washed
away. Christ promises in the gospel and seals it in baptism that His
blood takes away the sins of His people; all the sins, that are so
great and so grievous, which they must wrestle against all their
lives, but cannot completely conquer in this life. There are indeed,
times when the way to heaven seems to be a procession, and they
explain the going from strength to strength as if this consisted in
growing steadily according to the desires of their soul. But when
they are led deeper into what it is to be saved by grace and by
grace alone, they learn to know the path of life so different. The
way to heaven is a recession; sins that were thought dead arise and
become strong, and oppress them as the nations that remained in
Canaan could terribly oppress Israel. It can never be explained what
great evil has been erected in the city of Man-Soul, and what God's
children suffer because of it in this life.
    
    Hear and see what Christ is for His own. The most advanced in
grace lacks the power to slay even one sinful thought, to cleanse
his heart from one wicked sin; the blood of Christ cleanses from all
sin. In baptism God gave His seal to that promise for His people and
for them only. Oh, would that people flee to that blood! However
black they may be, here by faith is cleansing and mortification of
sin. God grant them to look away from everything outside of Christ,
and being constantly in communion with the sacrifice of Christ
sealed in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, to know themselves
perfect in Him, so that they may also understand the language of
self-knowledge and the language of faith as the bride, "I am black,
but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Cedar, as
the curtains of Solomon."
    
    Baptism then admonishes and assures the believers that the one
sacrifice of Christ upon the cross is of real advantage to them. To
that end the Lord Himself appointed this external washing with
water. His disciples baptized already when He was on earth. He
Himself did not baptize. John declares this in the beginning of the
fourth chapter of his gospel, where he writes, "that Jesus made and
baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself baptized
not, but His disciples)." His disciples baptized in His presence, at
His command, and with His approbation. Before Christ ascended to
heaven (we will consider this in the last question), He commanded
His disciples to go to all nations, teaching and baptizing them. By
virtue of that institution the external washing with water has a
sealing power, and baptism is more than an outward mark of
distinction between Christians and heathens. Let the congregations
beware of this Zwinglian-Remonstrant superficiality. Baptism seals
to us the washing away of our sins by the blood and Spirit of
Christ. No, not for everyone that is baptized, not every baptized
person is or becomes a partaker of the sacrifice of Christ, far from
it! Baptism in itself cannot wash away sins. Those who not only
receive the external sign but also by faith may know Christ
savingly: to them the Lord by baptism will seal the washing away of
their sins to their spiritual edification in the strengthening of
faith. The Catechism shows further how great the benefit is that is
sealed by baptism when he shows what baptism teaches of the washing
away of sin in the sacrifice of Christ. With this we come to our
second main thought.
    
    II
    
    The second question of Lord's Day 26 reads, "What is it to be
washed with the blood and Spirit of Christ?" The answer of the
instructor points to two benefits that are sealed by baptism, namely
justification and sanctification. These two benefits that must be
carefully distinguished but never separated, if we would avoid the
Catholic manner of mixing the two, are also bound together in the
sacrament of baptism in the washing of our souls by Christ; for this
is the answer explaining what it is to be washed by the blood and
Spirit of Christ: "It is to receive of God the remission of sins
freely, for the sake of Christ's blood, which He shed for us by His
sacrifice upon the cross; and also to be renewed by the Holy Ghost
and sanctified to be members of Christ, that so we may more and more
die unto sin, and lead holy and unblamable lives."
    
    The remission of sins mentioned here takes place in
justification; to be renewed and sanctified takes place in
sanctification. By reason of our fall God's righteousness counts us
guilty to all His commandments, and demands perfect satisfaction in
the execution of the punishment commensurate to the sin. Moreover,
sin corrupted us in soul and body, so that God's spotless holiness
can have no communion with man, but is to him as devouring fire and
everlasting burnings. If ever one who fell in Adam is to be
reinstated in the favour and communion with God, it is necessary (a)
that God's righteousness is satisfied, and (b) that he himself is
washed and sanctified. Both of these benefits are in Christ and are
sealed in baptism for God's people. In the first place the
instructor says that being washed in Christ is to receive remission
of sins.
    
    Remission! Oh no, this does not mean that God merely ignores
sin, and treats the sinner as though nothing has happened. We may
forgive our fellow men thus, but God as Judge cannot relinquish His
justice. When He forgives sin, His justice must first be satisfied.
He Himself has rendered satisfaction to His incorruptible justice,
and imputes it by grace to the elect, but guilty sinner. Man can not
pay even one earthing, but on the contrary, he increases the guilt
all the time. God grants the wretched, condemnable sinner the only
righteousness that can stand before Him and that was brought about
by Himself in the sacrifice of Christ. Because of that righteousness
that gave perfect satisfaction to the justice of God, God the Father
acquits the guilty sinner and forgives him all his sins. Being
washed by the blood and Spirit of Christ includes this benefit, that
by grace, God forgives sins for the blood of Christ. Once Christ
placed Himself in the stead of His elect. Although He had or knew no
sin, was counted guilty for the sins of His people that were laid
upon Him. When He cried out, "It is finished", He testified that He
had satisfied the justice of God, so that His people would be
acquitted as it was freely declared in Him, when God the Father
raised Him from the dead. For He "was delivered for our offenses,
and was raised again for our justification." "Who then shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that
is risen again." This benefit of perfect acquittal of guilt and
punishment, this unspeakable blessing of the remission of sins lies
in being washed in the blood of Christ. That benefit of
justification is imputed to God's people when faith is planted in
their heart in regeneration, and becomes clearer to them as faith is
exercised.
    
    We cannot presently say more about justification. Lord's Day 23
discusses this benefit of faith. Let it suffice here to remark how
great the significance is of the sacrament of Holy Baptism, and what
is sealed to God's children in baptism. Oh, that our eyes might be
opened more also for the sacraments. God did not give His Word and
the sacraments in vain. He will strengthen the faith of His people
by the means He has given them. He testifies to His people who know
themselves to be guilty, that they are as surely washed with the
blood and Spirit of Christ, as they are externally washed with
water. Thus atonement for their sins has been made, and their soul
is righteous before God in Christ. This is the cause of much strife
in the hearts of many. Their guilt before God felt in their soul,
calls for eternal condemnation. In their state of nature they did
not realize it. Then they walked on as if neither death nor hell
threatened them. God summoned them before His judgment seat, and
declared them guilty to all His commandments. Oh, since then they
find no rest day or night. Death is at their heels; God's justice
must be satisfied, and whatever they try, all is insufficient. They
must agree that they deserve the death sentence. God does no
injustice. If their portion were with the damned in hell, they would
not be able to curse God, but would cry, "God is just!" Thus the
worried sinner toils under the burden of his guilt. Although there
is some relief in agreeing to the sentence, the justification in
Christ's blood is so concealed for them that again the law regains
power to curse them. Yea, even though Christ, the City of Refuge, is
in sight, the avenger of blood has a right to attack until the
guilty one has entered into this City.
    
    Now for their troubled soul, the people of God may take hold of
the benefit that is portrayed before them whenever baptism is
administered: that Christ's blood atoned for sin, and that He sealed
that blessing and will assure them of it. Water washes away the
impurities of our body. Would the blood of Christ be insufficient to
take away all our sins and to reconcile His elect with God? May
their soul flee to that blood; in that blood, with consciousness of
their own heart, may their guilt be taken away, and their sins be
cast into the sea of eternal forgetfulness, that they may glory in
the grace of pardon for their iniquities. "It is to receive the
remission of sins freely, for the sake of Christ's blood which He
shed for us by His sacrifice upon the cross."
    
    However in baptism, not only the benefit of justification is
sealed, but also of sanctification, which is inseparably bound to
it; although, according to its nature, distinct from it. The
Catechism expresses it with these words: "and also to be renewed by
the Holy Ghost, and sanctified to be members of Christ." Thus a
Christian's sanctification is not his own work, but the work of the
Holy Spirit. The benefit sealed in baptism, namely the washing by
the blood and Spirit of Christ, is to be renewed and sanctified (not
to renew and sanctify themselves). Furthermore, for those who are
renewed in heart, sanctification is not a robe that they can weave
by their own strength! It is necessary to emphasize this in
opposition to those who talk only about "bettering their lives," and
want "not dogma, but life". They deny true sanctification and fall
into the error of the Arminians, as if sanctification is the result
of their own effort and exercise. To obtain the crown they begin to
strive against sin both within and without and with boldness come
before God with a conscience that has been lulled to sleep. Yet they
lack Christ, Who has been given of the Father not only for
justification, but also for sanctification. The Pharisee is a
stranger of true sanctification; he glories in himself, but is a
stench before God, a whited sepulcher, full of dead man's bones.
    
    With many there is confusion regarding sanctification and
keeping the law. Against these we must draw the line firmly and hold
that sanctification, as being the work of the Holy Spirit in fallen
man, precedes the keeping of the law. Neither in the state of
integrity, where man was holy, neither in heaven where the elect are
perfect, do we speak of sanctification, and still Adam and Eve
fulfilled God's law. In eternal glory there shall be perfect
accordance with the will of God as expressed in His law. Fallen man
is a sinner and entirely corrupted by sin, and therefore he rushes
on headlong in defiance of God's law, and lacks all ability to keep
a single commandment even for a moment or to show any true holiness
before God. If he ever begins to keep God's law, he must be renewed
and sanctified entirely. The doctrine of sanctification casts man
down from all his heights and lays him in the dust of death. How
could it be otherwise? God demands perfect holiness. His spotlessly
holy nature reacts with terrible wrath to all unholiness. For the
sinner He is a consuming fire and everlasting burnings. With
"halves" and "parts" the Perfect One cannot unite. "Be ye therefore
perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." God
created us in true holiness with the ability to remain holy, and He
can have no communion with us unless we are perfect. "Ye shall be
holy, for I am holy."
    
    That holiness that God requires of us, we can never yield of
ourselves. Even before the fall it was wrought in man by God; how
much more shall it be in fallen man. All show of holiness of
ourselves is imitation, a denial of the Fountain. Sanctification is
for God's people a benefit from the Covenant of Grace; Christ
imputes His holiness to them and renews them. By His Spirit He works
in them that inclination of soul by which the sinner hates and
abhors sin, and seeks righteousness; it causes him to hate what God
hates and to love what God loves. The Holy Ghost renews and
sanctifies the totally corrupt sinner to become a member of Christ.
    
    Against the doctrine of improvement (since the church has
slidden from its firm foundation), has also come up in our country
and was especially noticeable in the liberal groups, the Catechism
has placed itself on the firm foundation of Scripture, and we must
carry on the battle that is being waged again in the matter of
sanctification. Especially the little known and less understood
Kohlbrugge contended in our country against that corrupt doctrine
which denies all true sanctification. He was the man who when made
free by God in Christ, contended for true holiness as a benefit of
the Covenant of Grace, although some of his expressions were too
one-sided. With deception and by making demands which he could not
possibly fulfill, they kept him out of the Reformed Church whom they
feared because of his orthodoxy; but they could not bind the power
that went out from him. Alas, many of his followers that left the
true doctrine, are the cause why Kohlbrugge was not understood, and
was even condemned by some of Reformed persuasion.
    
    Let us put aside all opinions that anything from ourselves could
in any respect be counted for sanctification. To state this would be
Arminian. Christ's blood alone cleanses from sin. Still it is our
nature to try to conquer sin in our own power. Even God's children
are too often troubled with this. How many dark paths they must
travel when Christ is passed by. By virtue of the renewing of the
Holy Spirit and the sanctification as members of Christ, wrought in
regeneration, there is in every soul a true desire to be perfect
before God and to conquer sin, yea to mortify sin entirely.
    
    How does the awakened sinner seek to satisfy that sincere
desire? Does he by faith seek the power of the blood and Spirit of
Christ? Or does he often turn to the broken cisterns of his own
strength? I call the experience of all God's children to witness,
that because of spiritual ignorance regarding Christ's Mediatoiral
work, the soul struggles unspeakably, resolves, promises the Lord,
strives, loses and complains, until by his own experience he learns
that we can never expect even one sigh for good out of ourselves.
Then only is he prepared to learn to know Christ as the One given of
the Father for sanctification, in Whom he obtains deliverance from
sin, and in Whom he is placed before God as if he had never known or
committed sin. In Him we are perfect. He who misses Him, lacks all;
but he who is a partaker of Him, possesses everything in Him: both
justification for the atonement of his guilt, and sanctification for
the washing away of the pollution of sin. He who is a new creature
in Christ receives in Him the restoration into communion with God.
    
    Christ not only suffered the punishment, but also in actual
obedience fulfilled the law, standing in the place of all God's
people. The sanctification merited by this substitution He applies
to His own. He makes them partakers of it; He renews them by His
Spirit; He sanctifies them to be His members, so that in Him they
can stand before God, and be objects of the Father's favour. That
can never be because of their own work, but only because of the
perfect holiness of which those people are partakers by faith, and
which neither needs nor allows any completion by man. All that we
think to be before God amounts to nothing; the Lord is glorified in
His own work. Thus God's people, although they are renewed in all
their parts, cannot bring forth holiness of themselves, but only by
the power of Him Who said, "Without Me ye can do nothing." That the
Holy Spirit teaches them, and that divine work of the Holy Spirit
that sanctifies those purchased by the blood of Christ, causes those
who are renewed to "die more and more unto sin, and lead holy and
unblamable lives." For God's people must die, die unto sin, since it
lies firm in God's eternal good pleasure to purchase unto Himself a
people that shall be without spot or wrinkle before Him for ever and
ever. Christ merited that perfect holiness and God the Father sees
His church in that perfect holiness and embraces it in His favour,
and God's people embrace that perfect holiness by faith, knowing
that in Christ they are without sin before God.
    
    Still sin cleaves to us in this life from day to day, even in
our most holy activities. The holiest men, while in this life, have
only a small beginning of this perfect obedience. Paul sketches for
us in Romans 7 the experience of this life after his conversion. Who
of God's children is a stranger to that life? As the soul progresses
in sanctification, it becomes more sinful, more wretched, and poorer
before God, but on the other hand holier, richer, and more blessed
in Christ. Thus its language becomes the speech of the complainer
who glories, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
All true knowledge of self brings us to Christ and causes us to find
in Him the Fountain opened for the house of David and for the
inhabitants of Jerusalem. But there is more. The renewing of the
Holy Spirit makes us new creatures. He that is washed in Christ's
blood partakes of another life. He belongs to another, and becomes
another. In his state of nature he was, like all creatures, ungodly,
unclean, unable to do anything but sin against God. Being sanctified
in Christ and all their faculties being cleansed and renewed by the
Spirit, sin becomes death to him, although sin is present with him,
he has a delight in the law of the Lord after the inward man. Here
is where the Neo-Kohlbruggians go astray. In opposition to them we
must hold that the Holy Spirit not only causes us to die, but also
resurrects us to a new life, and he who is resurrected from the dead
and has become a partaker of divine life, in accordance with God's
purpose and his holy calling, seeks to attain perfect holiness
working by the Spirit with the faculties given by God.
    
    This renewing works sanctification in God's people step by step.
In heaven shall be that which is perfect; there sin shall be no
more. As long as we are in the flesh, sin cleaves to us and God's
people must strive against flesh and blood, against sinful lusts and
uprising iniquities and always again flee to the blood and Spirit of
Christ, so that sin shall not have the upper hand. The examples in
God's Word are too familiar to need explanation here. They show us
that the danger of sin threatens us in this life, and where sin
enters taking us captive, and we faithlessly surrender, God's name
is dishonored, and the Lord's people are grieved. God's children,
even if it is David, a man after God's heart, are then visited with
the rod and with stripes, even though their sin is forgiven. God's
love will not allow sin to reign in His people and out of love He
chastens every son whom He receives, to make them partakers of His
holiness. God renews His people, and by virtue of that renewing He
calls them, not in their own power but by the grace of the Holy
Spirit, to die unto sin more and more, and to walk unblamable in a
godly life.
    
    When unrighteousness becomes strong in God's people, and sin
becomes lively, while they are distressed by indwelling sin, Oh!
that they by faith may look to that blood and that Spirit, by which
Adam's children become clean before God, and not attempt to fight
against sin in their own strength. As powerless in themselves may
they seek their strength in the cleft of the rock, to fear, hate,
and flee from sin, and seek to apprehend that for which they are
apprehended in Christ. Then you shall have liberty before Him, and
He alone shall have the honour, when dying unto sin, you more and
more become partakers of His holiness. Sanctification by the Holy
Spirit impels God's people to bear fruit. Oh, may God's command to
be perfectly holy cause us to hate sin, to loathe our own
righteousness and become more and more partakers of the holiness of
Christ.
    That is the second benefit God sealed in baptism so that the
comfort of the sanctification in Christ may reach the church
militant, and they may acknowledge with the bride, "I am black, but
comely." So it is experienced in the life of God's children.
    Now in the third place I must show with a few words, that the
relation of baptism to the sacrifice of Christ is founded upon God's
promise.
    
    Application
    
    But let us first sing Psalter No. 425 stanza 5.
        "Jehovah's truth will stand forever,
        His covenant bonds He will not sever,
        The word of grace which He commands
        To thousand generations stands;
        The covenant made in days of old
        With Abraham He does uphold."
    
    III
    
    The strength of baptism lies in the divine promise. That promise
was given at the institution of baptism. I have already referred to
it and the Catechism quotes the familiar text from Matt. 28:19: "Go
ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." "He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not
shall be damned." Also the word of Paul in Titus 3:5 where Scripture
calls baptism the washing of regeneration and in Acts 22:16 the
washing away of sins. It is clearly evident what a great
significance the external washing has because of its divine
institution; that baptism signifies and seals no less than the
washing away of sins, as the instructor has taught us. Baptism would
not have that significance if it had been but an institution of man;
but now that the Lord Himself has instituted it as a sacrament of
the New Covenant, it is a sign and seal of the righteousness and
sanctification that God's elect have in Christ which the Holy Spirit
applies to them.
    
    The Roman Catholic Church may speak of seven sacraments. With
the exception of baptism and the Lord's Supper, they are human
inventions and lack divine institution. On the other hand, the Lord
instituted baptism and gave it as a sign and a seal for the
salvation of His elect. He will remember His Covenant eternally.
Baptism is not merely an external mark of identification. This
sacrament does not mean that there is a possibility for all people
to be saved; but it is a sign and seal instituted by God, in which
the Lord seals and subjectively grants to their salvation that of
which His people objectively partake in Christ. The elect by nature
are as all other people, objects of God's wrath, lying in a state of
death. In every administration and upon each of your foreheads God
seals and has sealed that He will and shall justify and sanctify
sinners in the blood of the Lamb.
    
    Oh, unconverted of heart, how terrible shall your judgment be,
if you neglect so great a salvation. If I would say it, many would
say, "It is too sharp," but The Confession of Faith, based upon the
Word of God, tells you that if we die as we are born, we shall have
received the sacrament to our condemnation. God bind that word upon
your heart and disquiet you, and stir up within you a holy concern
for your salvation. Baptism has significance for each of us, but
with this great difference: to the one it seals his eternal
punishment, to the other it seals out of free grace his
justification in Christ. Oh, may the Lord make you a partaker of the
grace signified while it is still the day of grace. Without the
righteousness and holiness of Christ, no one shall be able to stand
before God or ascend into the hill of the Lord. My dear
fellow-traveler to eternity, hear the Word of the Lord; look upon
the significance of baptism. The Lord open your eyes and heart
before you will cry out, "If only oh, if only I had" when the door
of grace is closed forever.
    
    What great blessings the Lord seals to His people in baptism! In
Christ all God's elect are justified, sanctified, yea, glorified. By
nature they walk in the way of sin and wallow, sometimes even
externally in the mire of sin. However, in His own time the Lord
will save them, He promised that in the gospel and sealed it in
baptism. Oh, how guilty and unclean they have learned to know
themselves before God when the Lord opened their eyes. What was then
the need of their soul? What did they need for their salvation? Was
it not justification to atone for their guilt and sanctification to
cleanse them from their filthy sins? Could they stand before God
with less than perfect justification and sanctification. Both of
those benefits are sealed in baptism. Oh, worried souls, who seek
day by day to give satisfaction for your guilt and to cleanse your
heart, may you be given to find in Christ what you never can give.
Baptism points to Him, for He is given unto His people for wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. May the
perfect attributes of God so humble you that Christ may be formed in
you, and attaining Him may become your chief aim.
    
    What do we need to be justified and sanctified by faith? Listen,
people of God, may it be for your instruction: in justification we
are cut off, in sanctification we are broken down. We must lose our
life; we must be cut off from Adam to be grafted into Christ; but
our strength must also be broken down that the Christ's strength may
be made perfect in weakness. May the Holy Spirit teach us this in
our life, so that we may go halting as Jacob did from Peniel, and in
Christ by faith we may continuously embrace both the benefits that
are sealed by baptism for all God's dear people, namely,
justification and sanctification. To that end the Lord bind the
admonition of baptism upon the soul, and grant us to taste the
assurance of baptism by faith, so that we may glory in Him, in Whom
His people are perfect. If by faith we may appropriate all that He
is for His elect, may we always experience that in ourselves we are
nothing than poor sinners.
    
    When God by the Holy Spirit applies the blessings of His grace
to His people, then a path follows in which these will be
experienced. In this way we learn to know our poverty more and more.
After Peniel, Jacob was troubled because his sons made him a stench
among the inhabitants of the land by their slaughter of the
inhabitants of Shechem. The Lord also took away from Jacob his
beloved Rachel. The idols that she had carried into Jacob's house
were buried, but Rachel died, too. Her death was bitter, as her
entire life was. Did she not say to Jacob in her envy of Leah, "Give
me children"? And Jacob answered, "Am I in God's stead?" So was also
her death when she called her son Ben-oni, son of my sorrow, as if
his birth was the cause of her death. Jacob changed that name to
Benjamin, son of comfort. Even Rachel's remembrance had to be
removed from Jacob's house. First Joseph was taken away, and then
Benjamin, so that Jacob complained, "All these things are against
me." Jacob had to die to all that was precious to him, die, so that
soon on his death bed he would lose himself entirely in the good
pleasure of God, and command his sons to bury him in the cave of
Machpelah: "There I buried Leah." Not Rachel, but Leah was God's
elect out of whom Christ would be born through Judah. Oh, how much
it cost Jacob to find rest in God's good pleasure! Thus the way of
God's children is a dying way for the practice of sanctification,
which with justification is sealed in baptism. The Lord grant us a
little light and exercise of faith, so that dying with Christ we may
also live with Him. Amen.