All Articles For Hanko Ronald H

II Kings 14:23-27, though it gives us the only other information we have of Jonah, does not mention his commission to Nineveh. We do not know, therefore, when in his prophetic career Jonah was told to go and preach in Nineveh, but his reluctance would seem to indicate that it was later rather than sooner, that is, after he had preached in Israel with little fruit. Jonah’s reluctance to go to Nineveh must be explained in part by the apostasy of the northern kingdom. Afraid that God would be merciful to Nineveh, he must have wondered why God did not...

Introduction The appeal of the book of Jonah, for this writer, lies in part in the character of Jonah. Disinclined to preach as sent, disobedient, grudging the repentance of those to whom he preached, Jonah shows himself to be a man “subject to like passions as we are” (James 5:17). Yet the prophet was used by God to save His people and to be, in history, an example of the power of God’s Word and the wideness of God’s purpose, even to be a pre-figure of the death and burial of our Savior. That “weakest means fulfill His will” (Psalter...

Q. 86. What is the communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death? A. The communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death is, in that their souls are then made perfect in holiness, and received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies, which even in death continue united to Christ, and rest in their graves as in their beds, till at the last day they be again...

Walking in the Way of Love: A Practical Commentary on 1 Corinthians for the Believer (vol. 1), by Nathan J. Langerak. Jenison, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2018. 432 pages, hardcover. [Reviewed by Rev. Ron Hanko] This is an excellent and much-needed addition to anyone’s collection of commentaries, whether layman or preacher. Though I never preached through the book of I Corinthians, in preaching on individual texts I repeatedly found that there were few useful commentaries on the book. Nevertheless, this treatment is not only for preachers but is eminently readable and within the scope of any layman. Indeed, it...

The Man Gottschalk’s name means “Servant of God,” and as a servant of God’s truth he lived and died. To suffer as he did for the doctrine of sovereign double predestination, he had not only in name but also in heart to be God’s servant. Born around 803,1 Gottschalk anticipated Calvin’s teaching by 750 years with his emphasis on the doctrines we know as limited atonement and double predestination. He also, though not alone, believed a symbolic or figurative presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper, a view that would be lost in Romish theology and would only be revived...

Thy Church rejoices to behold Thy judgments in the earth, O Lord; Thy glory to the world unfold, Supreme o’er all be Thou adored. Psalter #260, 4 (Psalm 97:8, 9) That, in a few words, is why we sing the imprecatory psalms. God’s judgments, the main subject of the imprecatory psalms, are God-glorifying and therefore also a matter of joy for the church. Psalm 97 is not usually listed as one of the imprecatory psalms. Every list of them is different, but Psalms 35, 69, 109, and 137 are psalms that are always included. Certain parts of them are “considered...

Rev. Hanko is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Lynden, Washington. Previous article in this series: December 1, 2006, p. 103. The Fourth Disputation: Chapter 2:17-3:6 (continued) 3. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. Here Malachi speaks in further detail of Christ’s work as Savior under the figure of a refiner of gold and silver, but adds something about the ultimate purpose of His work as refiner and...

In forbidding murder, the Sixth Commandment gives us a lesson in love and its duties. As with all the Commandments, the negative prohibition of the Sixth Commandment implies a positive requirement. And in the case of the Sixth Commandment, that positive requirement is the same as the basic demand of the whole second table of the Law, that we love our neighbor for God’s sake. This Sixth Commandment, however, requires the highest possible expression of that love when it demands that we preserve the life of our neighbor and seek his well-being. We must show this love for our neighbor...

Classis West met on Wednesday, September 18, 199l in Edgerton, MN. Classis met for a full day, finishing its work at about 600 Wednesday evening. Rev. S. Key served as President of the meeting and was welcomed by Classis, having recently moved to Randolph, WI, from Classis East. Rev. Robert Hargrove of Sovereign Grace Presbyterian Church in Spokane, WA, and Mr. Jim Roberts of Sovereign Redeemer Fellowship in Boise, ID, were welcomed as visitors to Classis. The main items of business were an appeal from a brother in Loveland, CO against the Loveland Consistory and an overture from the Loveland...

The subject of “Limited” or “Definite” Atonement is often the most controversial of the Five Points of Calvinism. The differences between the Calvinist and the Arminian, even on the subject of predestination come into sharpest focus at this point. Even many so-called Calvinists, who agree with us on the doctrine of sovereign, unconditional, double predestination, will disagree violently with us when we teach that Christ did not die for all, but for a “definite” or “limited” number of persons.