Vol 94 Issue 11

Trivia question Which Protestant Reformed Church in Classis East has been served by the largest number of different ministers? Answer later in this column. Minister activities Rev. Cory Griess preached his farewell sermon January 28 in Calvary PRC, after which a program was held for him and his family. The Griess family moved that week to the parsonage of First PRC of Grand Rapids. Rev. Griess was installed on February 11, with Rev. J. Slopsema leading the service. Rev. Griess preached his inaugural sermon that evening. May God provide for them as they leave one church family for another. On...

To understand what it means to be a mature man, we must ask this question: “What saith the Scriptures?” Or, to put it differently, “What does God say? What does He demand of me as a man?” Our view of manhood may not be formed on the basis of culture, the expectations of society, or tradition. We need a foundation that is more solid than any of those. Our understanding of masculinity must be grounded in the bedrock of God’s Word. The fact that we need to turn to God’s Word for this instruction ought not to surprise us, but...

The covenant family is God’s gift to those who marry in the Lord. It has as its highest calling to reflect the beauty, holiness, and blessedness of the personal covenant life that exists within the triune being of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The covenant family exists where husband and wife are bound together in the love of Christ in the unity of faith. The covenant family is created by God through the work of regeneration in the hearts of the two so married. The purpose to raise a covenant family begins with a serious attitude about marrying a fellow...

Previous article in this series: February 15, 2018, p. 228. “…blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” Romans 11:25, 26 The error concerning “until” The error of dispensational premillennialism regarding the text of Scripture itself, in Romans 11, is twofold. First, the premillennialists assume, falsely, that “until” in verse 25 implies that subsequently, in history, there will follow an age in which the Jews will...

Previous article in this series: December 1, 2017, p. 99. God’s holiness and Scripture’s perfection Just as God has attributes, so does also the Word of God. Because Scripture is the Word of God, it partakes of the attributes of God whose Word it is. This has historically been the position of the church and has been an important part of its defense of the Bible’s infallible inspiration. Over against those who deny Scripture’s divine inspiration, the church has historically appealed to the perfection of God Himself. Since God is perfect and holy, so also is His Word. Today prominent...

Previous article in this series: February 1, 2018, p. 202. We saw last time that one event, namely death, comes upon all, both the righteous and the wicked without distinction. This shapes the lives of the sons of men, who are fallen in sin and who shall die. The reason it shapes the lives of men lies in the finality of death and the contrast between the living and the dead. In setting forth this truth and its implications, Solomon turns, first of all, to a description of this contrast in its various elements. This is similar to his approach...

The march for life Two marches took place in Washington, D.C. recently for two very different causes. The first was the fortyfifth “March for Life” on January 19, 2018, a pro-life event held every year since 1974 in protest against the infamous pro-abortion Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision of January 22, 1973. Last year, on January 27, 2017, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence became the first sitting American V.P. to address the pro-life crowd: I’m deeply humbled to stand before you today. I’m deeply humbled to be the first vice president of the United States to ever have...

No, not the Grand River in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where some of our spiritual relatives gathered after immigrating from the Netherlands in order to establish Reformed churches.1 But the Tiber River in Rome, Italy, where some of our ecclesiastical relatives are gathering today, there to destroy Reformed churches. They are there, ready to forsake Reformed tradition and join the Roman Catholic Church. “Crossing the Tiber” is an old expression describing what a Protestant does when he leaves the Reformation faith for the Roman Catholic fold. The Tiber River ran alongside old Rome; to get to Rome, one crossed it. Thus,...

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Psalm 119:11 Psalm 119 was written by a young man who was being persecuted for righteousness’ sake. We do not know the identity of the psalmist or when in Israel’s history he lived. It is apparent from the Psalm, however, that it was a time of departure for the nation of Israel. The result was that the psalmist was being persecuted for his godliness. This persecution came from the highest levels of the land. He was being opposed by the rulers. He was imprisoned, facing...