All Articles For Holstege, Daniel

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Romans 8:24-25 Not only they, but we ourselves groan within ourselves! O how the creation groans and travails in pain! For God subjected it to vanity because of the fall of man into sin. Hence, from the fall until now, the whole cosmos groans in agony, shaking and quaking, erupting and burning, withering and dying. Yet in all...

A covenantal culture for missions? Since the dawn of the new dispensation, God has been drawing His elect church into the covenant of grace in two ways, from two sources, and through two tasks. First, through the Spirit-powered gospel preaching and witness of the church in the world, declaring to the nations the salvation of the Lord and saying among the heathen that the Lord reigns, God graciously seeks and saves His lost sheep out of the hell-bound hopelessness of their false religions into the blessed eternal life of His covenant (Ps. 96, Mark 16:15, Acts 1:8). Then, through the...

Previous article in this series: October 1, 2020, p. 17. In the PRC’s covenant theology, there is a significant truth that, though not entirely overlooked in the past, is still frequently overlooked in the present.1 Not long ago, I revised my lecture on Lesson 18 (“The Covenant of Grace”) in the Essentials of Reformed Doctrine class that I teach to the young people of Provident PRC in Metro Manila. I first made that lecture nearly ten years ago, but I had not taught it since moving to our mission field in the Philippines in 2017. Regretfully, I discovered that in...

Previous article in this series: March 15, 2020, p. 282. “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world” (John 17:18). “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). As God sent His Son, the chief Missionary, to save the world of men whom the Father had given to Him out of all nations and to give them everlasting life in His covenant, even so the Son of God has sent us into all the world...

The covenant of God. Our mission to the world. How often have we thought about these highly sig­nificant biblical concepts together? How often, when discussing one, have we been led to discuss the other? How deeply has our thinking penetrated into the glo­rious realities and urgent callings that lie at the inter­section of these truths? It is the humble opinion of this writer that there is room for growth in our understand­ing of the relation between these marvelous truths of Scripture. The burden of this and subsequent articles will be an attempt to develop the relation between them as it...

March 21, 2020 Dear beloved congregation of Provident PRC, In times like this, the Lord might give opportunities to let our light shine before men by our good works. I pray that your neighbors will notice that you do not fear COVID-19, but you have hope, and that they ask a reason for your hope (I Pet. 3:15). Be ready to give an answer! We are going through a strange and uncertain mo­ment in our lives! We did not expect the pandemic of COVID-19. Just a few weeks ago, we observed the hand of God in the eruption of Taal...

Previous article in this series: November 15, 2019, p. 93. “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob…for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the...

Previous article in this series: May 15, 2019, p. 382. The zealous Christian witness who would reprove the man of this world, with the desire that he might be gained to Christ, must learn about that man and his religion before reproving him. “It is clear,” writes the Reformed missiologist J. H. Bavinck, “that elenctics must first of all begin with the precise and calm knowledge of the nature of the religion with which it is concerned.”1 The Presbyterian mission­ary John Young writes, “Such a refutation [of a false religion] will of course entail a knowledge of the native religion, not...

Previous article in this series: January 15, 2019, p. 189. In the wilderness of Judea, John the Baptist began to preach, saying, Repent (Matt. 3:2). In the towns of Galilee, Jesus began to preach, say­ing, Repent (Matt. 4:17). In some of His last words to the disciples, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit who would reprove the world of sin,[1] righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). In the Great Commission, Jesus sent us into the world, saying, “Repentance and remission of sins must be preached in my name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). O man of this...

Elenctics, an aspect of the mission and witness of the church of Jesus Christ in the world, asks a vital question. “In all elenctics,” wrote the Dutch Reformed missiologist J. H. Bavinck, “the concern is always with the all-important question: ‘What have you done with God?’”[1] You, man of this world, have done something with God. What have you done with Him? The answer to that question of elenctics points us to one of the important elements of our task in missions and witnessing. In missions and witnessing, there is an encounter be­tween the believer and the unbeliever somewhere in...