All Articles For In His Fear

Thus far the Baptism Form spoke of “God’s part” in the covenant in distinction from “our part”. In the next paragraph it considers “our part”, stating, “Whereas in all covenants there are contained two parts: therefore are we by God through baptism admonished of and obliged to a new obedience. . . .”, etc. Emphatically the Form brings home to us that God establishes His own covenant with us and realizes it in us. The establishment and the realization are both of God. If baptism means anything at all, it means exactly that to us. Particularly infant baptism, administered in...

Our baptism always has a special significance for us because of the fact that we and our children receive the sacrament in our infancy. Turning from a discussion of the significance of the sacrament to a discussion of the baptism of infants, the Form states: “and although our young children do not understand these things, we may not therefore exclude them from baptism. . . ” It is worthy of note, that the fathers did not say that children of believing parents may receive the sacrament of baptism, but that they must. They were, no doubt, well aware of the...

Introduction: Job’s Case Job, amid his sufferings desired above all one thing, namely, that he might either find a talisman (lawyer) to plead his cause with God, or that he himself might appear before God to set his arguments in order before His face. More than once we hear him lamenting: “O that I might find Him,” and again, “O that one would hear me, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me”, and again, “O that one might plead for a man with God as a man pleadeth with his neighbor”. It is evident that Job desires to...

As God passes the creatures, one by one, before Job’s eyes, God recites various of their native peculiarities. God begins with the earth’s foundations, then proceeds to speak about the sea, hemmed in by bars and doors. Then God continues with mention of the rain, snow, hoarfrost, sleet and hail. From there God mounts upward to heaven to discuss the constellations, the lightning, etc. Then God has Job inspect the wild goats and the wild asses. Afterward God passes the unicorn before his eyes, the peacock, the hawk, the eagle and the horse. God had only begun this process or...

The Covenant. We believe that our gracious God, in His sovereign good pleasure has entered into covenant with His people and has established with them that everlasting covenant of grace which God one time promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God will be their God and they shall be unto Him a people. There you have the two sides to that glorious covenant. He will be God unto them. That is, all that which belongs unto Him as God, which characterizes Him for what He has revealed Himself to be, all His God-ness will become the experience of His people. His...

Off-Center. Whenever there is a center there is also an off-center. As in our own lives there is the danger of hiving off-center, so our Christian instruction is often in danger of being off-center. That is, something else than God, His Covenant and the Man of God receives the emphasis. Sometimes the tendency is to the right, sometimes to the left of center. The question is therefore not, what place can we procure for our children in this world or how can we educate them so that they may take that place which we assign to them. God assigns them...

We said in our previous article that Christian instruction must be God-centered and covenant-directed, that is, the teaching must be of such quality that it serves to prepare our children to take the place which the Covenant assigns to them. We would call that then the Center of all instruction, the hub where all the spokes make contact, the point around which everything revolves. Let this out and you get a disintegrated curriculum, an unorganized series of subjects in our schools, but have that center and all the subjects are integrated into one grand unity. To keep that center is...

In our last article in this column we called your attention to an unscriptural tendency in the present Christian School system, the tendency, namely, of a “social gospel”. There are other errors. We believe that the mixing of numerous denominations into a Christian School constituency is also an error. (Cf. Pamphlet by M. Fakkema, entitled, “New Christian Schools on the Pacific Coast”). It must lead to generalization of principles and finally to colorless instruction. There is more over the danger of opening the doors of our schools to the unchurches, against which also the last held Union Meeting raised its...

Who asks this question? Your pastor never asks you the above question in singular form. He may not ask whether he may help train your child in the fear of the Lord. It is his God-given calling to do so, and he may not even give you the opportunity to answer this question. He may not leave the impression with you that you as a covenant parent have the right at all to refuse to allow him to help you train your child in the fear of the Lord. He must rather admonish you and remind you that it is...

The Sunday School teacher by conducting his class on Sunday asks together with all the other Sunday School teachers, “May we help train your child in the fear of the Lord by teaching him to memorize God’s Word, learn the songs of Zion and by recounting to him the truth as it is displayed to us in the many historical events recorded in the Scriptures. The question before which each teacher then does and surely ought to place himself is, “How shall and how can I best prepare my lesson so that I live up to my promise?” He has...