Vol 84 Issue 09

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.  

Reprinted from When Thou Sittest In Thine House, by Abraham Kuyper, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1929. Used by permission of Eerdmans Publishing Co.   Economy  What think ye, when Christ multiplied the loaves and fishes, did He produce too much bread by mistake, so that fragments remained contrary to His intention, and that these fragments surprised Him? This cannot be so. What operated with this multiplication in and through Christ was divine almightiness. To do what here is done falls outside the range of our human nature. What God the Lord has put in our power is to multiply grain...

Rev. Spriensma is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Rev. Lanning is pastor of Faith Protestant Reformed Church in Jenison, Michigan. Previous article in this series: January 1, 2008, p. 160. No one observing Henry Danhof’s early years in the Netherlands as they unfolded would have concluded that young Henry would someday be a leading figure in the Reformed scene in America. Instead, the conclusion would have been that Danhof was likely to be swallowed up by the hard circumstances of his life: he was an orphan at a young age, he became a lowly shepherd tending a flock of sheep, and he had very little formal education. In...

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Randolph, Wisconsin. Previous article in this series: January, 15, 2008, p. 184.

Prof. Engelsma is professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Previous article in this series: January 1, 2008, p. 150.   Controversy over the Covenant (concl.)  Simon Van Velzen was not the only minister in the churches of the Secession in the Netherlands of 1834 to oppose the new covenant doctrine of Pieters and Kreulen. A younger colleague, who had embraced the doctrine of the covenant of the “fathers of the Secession” and was zealous for the gospel of grace, also condemned Pieters and Kreulen’s covenant doctrine as heretical. He was H. Joffers, minister of the...

Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hull, Iowa. Previous article in this series: January 15, 2008, p. 179. We have seen that the Lord’s Supper has been instituted for sincere believers, and that all others are forbidden to partake of the sacrament. Those sincere believers are clearly identified by Holy Scripture, so that as we examine ourselves there can be no mistaking the signs of whether we belong. The Heidelberg Catechism in Question and Answer 81 summarizes the biblical description of those proper partakers with three significant characteristics. The Proper Partakers In the first place, sincere...

I wish to make a few remarks about Rev. Daniel Kleyn’s article on “Receiving the Preached Word,” in the January 1, 2008 issue of the Standard Bearer.  I do believe it was a fine article, although I think that a bit more could have been said. There was much said about how we should listen to the Word. That we should be quick to learn and slow to speak is very, very true. But I was wondering why Rev. Kleyn did not say anything about the calling of the pastor to prepare himself, by much study, to bring the Word in...

Previous article in this series: January 15, 2008, p. 172. Believers in all lands confess with one voice that the church of Jesus Christ is one. Confessing this unity, they are obliged to pursue this unity earnestly. The confession of faith—I believe one holy, catholic church—is a dead confession if there is no activity of faith that accompanies it. James condemns the man who claims to have faith, but neglects to demonstrate it in assisting his needy brother or sister (James 2:13-26). So likewise, one who confesses the oneness of the body, but neglects to seek the unity, is at...

Rev. Slopsema is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. Psalm 32:5 Psalm 32 was wrtten by David. It was occasioned by his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband, Uriah. This sad chapter in David’s life is well known to us. While his armies were on the field of battle, David took Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, in adultery. When Bathsheba conceived,...