Vol 21 Issue 18

Chapter 3: The Death of The Cross (continued) Such is the meaning of the cross. No other death than that by crucifixion might the Lamb of God, that must take away the sin of the world, die. For Him it would not have been proper had He died suddenly of heart failure, or of some common disease, or of the weakness of old age. Nor might the enemy stone Him to death, as they sometimes sought to do even before His hour had come; or cast, Him down the precipice, as they meant to do at Nazareth; or, with the...

(Speech delivered at the last consistorial league meeting). OUR CATECHISM, OUR CHURCH ORDER, THE BAPTISMAL FORM, AND THE SCHOOL QUESTION I have been asked to introduce the following question: Do Lord’s Day 38 of our Heidelberg Catechism, Article 21 of our Church Order, and the Baptismal Pledge enjoin us to have schools of our own? Two remarks of a general nature may serve to introduce my introduction. First, I am not too concerned about the question whether or not these particular passages directly enjoin us to have our own Protestant Reformed Christian Schools. You understand, I am not indifferent toward...

In our study of the Old Testament term “soul” and in determining the meaning of that term, it will be necessary first of all to gather what information we can concerning the use of the term in the Old Testament Scriptures and then, in the light thereof, we may attempt to form some conception of it. We must also bear in mind that the term “soul”, as so many other concepts of Scripture, is not an isolated term. We cannot treat it as we would the concept “man” or “tree”, which belongs to a category all its own. The concept...

The reader will notice that the; above subject is formulated differently from the usual formulation. Usually our attention is drawn to the formulation: “God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Responsibility”. Essentially there is no difference in expressing problem in these two ways. However, as the problem formulated above it seeks to bring out the impossibility of denying the sovereignty of God sir any way in history. If we confess God’s providence, as it is implied in Scripture we do more than just speak of God’s sovereignty in His counsel, but we also explain His counsel as a living counsel, a sovereign rule...

Before we enter upon our subject it may not be superfluous to determine what we mean by idolatry. This is the more necessary because of the definition which is so familiar to us, from the Heidelberg Catechism. For it is only because of the very practical purpose of the Catechism on the first commandment that we accede to and justify the very broad and somewhat figurative definition. It is also from this motive that Dr. A. Kuyper in his commentary, “E VOTO” includes all those things in which men seek their welfare without God and with bold and forceful strokes...

So had Samson, in his carnality, played into the hands of the enemy, who finally succeeded in getting himinto their power through the treachery of a woman. With him asleep on her knees, she caused the seven locks of his head to be shaven off; and she began to afflict him and his strength went from him. At the sound of her cry, “the Philistines be upon thee Samson,” he awoke out of his sleep. Still feeling secure in his strength, he said, “I will go out as at other times before and shake myself. But he wist not that...

Chapter 1: The Death of The Son of God (continued) What, then, is physical death? What does it mean for sinful man to die? And what is the meaning of the grave? From the viewpoint of experience, of what we, who are on this side of the grave, can see of death, it is the complete dissolution of our earthly house, the end of our earthly existence; and the grave is; corruption, our return to the dust, whence we are taken. It is an utter loss. In death the organism of the body collapses and is dissolved, and with it...

The complainants insist that the preacher must proclaim that God sincerely seeks the salvation of the reprobate. And in spite of this ostensibly Arminian position they claim the sole right to the name of being Reformed. This claim they defend by appealing to the principle (?) of irrationality. They take the position that the Reformed faith is irrational. And on that position no one can successfully attack them. But, as we have seen, if we deny them the right to that irrational position, and, as rational beings, try to explain their position, we discover that they embrace the Arminian view...

I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me. Ps. 119:93 Marvelous Word of God! Wonderful, because it is God that speaks, and it is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. . . . Glorious, too, because of its infinite perfection, for always God speaks concerning Himself, and through that Word addressed to us He reveals; Himself as the holy one of Israel, as GOD, the incomparable one! That Word is the theme of this entire psalm, but more particularly in this section. We remember that the one hundred and nineteenth psalm is...