All Articles For Revelation

We concluded our preceding article with the remark that we would comment in this article on the claim of Rome that it is truly the Catholic, universal Church of God and of Christ in the midst of the world. In the first place, the name, “Roman Catholic Church,” is certainly a misnomer. That church calls itself the Roman Catholic Church. How can a church be catholic, universal, and at the same time Roman? Does not the name, Roman, limit that church so that it is no longer catholic or universal? O, we know that Roman Catholicism teaches that the name...

“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men front the East to Jerusalem. Saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the East, and are come to worship Him.”

For various reasons which will become clear, I trust, as we proceed, I am intending to write an occasional editorial on the subject which heads this article. As churches, we must be specific. We must not be generally Christian. We must not be known or try to be known merely as “conservative,” nor even as “conservatively” Reformed. But we must be clearly, unmistakably, specifically Protestant Reformed. We have a distinctively Protestant Reformed heritage. By that heritage we have always been known over the years. And by that heritage we must continue to be known. 

In the Company of Angels: What the Bible Teaches What You Need to Know, by Andrew J. Bandstra. Grand Rapids: CRC Publications, 1995. 133 pp., no price given (paper). [Reviewed by Prof. Robert D. Decker.] In general this book by Andrew Bandstra, Professor of New Testament Emeritus of Calvin Theological Seminary, contains many helpful insights into the subject of Angels. The points made are tightly argued and based on careful exegesis of Scripture. This is a very welcome contrast to the speculation one finds in so much of what’s written on the angels. Upon reading this little book one will...

I believe one church of Jesus Christ. This confession implies a calling to seek the unity of this church—a divine obligation on every believer and every church. Belief in the one church is the heartfelt confession of every believer. In the first centuries after Pentecost the ancient church delineated this cardinal truth and required that every believer affirm it before becoming a member of the Christian church. Week after week, in various countries and cultures, in perhaps hundreds of languages, believers around the world confess the truth—I believe an (that is, one) holy catholic church. We can say it so easily....

Rev. Terpstra is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Holland, Michigan It is probably well known that the Reformation did not develop Christian doctrine in the area of eschatology very strongly. In part this was due to the fact that, in general, the Reformers accepted the long-standing, amillennial eschatology of Augustine set forth c. AD 400. And partly this was due to the fact that the various doctrines that belong to eschatology were not all that controversial at the time of the Reformation. An exception to this was the chiliast error (literal millennialism, i.e., thousand-year reign of Christ on...

Rev. VanBaren is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Newsweek—and Prophecy Last time I pointed out a feature article in U.S. News and World Report: “Is the Bible True?” Newsweek, November 1, 1999, weighed in with another article related to the Bible and the millennium. It examined especially the book of Revelation and its prophecy of the end of the world. It is striking that the national magazines pay such close attention to Scripture and its prophecy as the new millennium approaches. Striking, it is, because obviously the writers and editors do not believe the testimony of an...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. A Sure Standard. Now we face a new millen- nium. What must our call- ing be as we step over the threshold of the old and into the new? Are we called to join hands with the apostatizing church world and lighten up a bit? Should we quit warring and simply learn to get along? Soldiers of Christ, we are fighting a warfare and we may not give in to unbelief and the lie! Our calling at this point in the history of the world is to bear...

Rev. Slopsema is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. II Peter 3:8, 9 The year of our Lord 2000! The beginning of the third millennium! Are you surprised that the world is still here? Doesn’t the Bible talk...

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A door as the means of entering and exiting a building is mentioned several times in Scripture with great significance. The door which Noah built in the ark was shut by the Lord (Gen. 7:16), denoting the perfect safety of Noah’s family. At the time of the first Passover in Egypt, the Israelites put lamb’s blood on the doorposts of their houses (Ex. 12:7) so that the plague of death did not enter their houses. The Israelites were commanded to bring their peace offerings to the door...