A Reformed Commentary on the 2020 Pandemic (Part 2) – July 2020 “Standard Bearer”

The July 2020 issue of the Standard Bearer (produced only once per month in June, July, and August) is now out (in print and digital forms). This is our annual “PRC Synod” post-view issue, complete with a wrap-up of Synod 2020’s decisions and some photos of the delegates at work and in fellowship.

But the issue also contains a regular editorial and a number of other scheduled rubric articles, including Prof. D. Kuiper’s next installment on the ecumenical councils of the early church (Constantinople 381), Rev. J. Laning’s article on “God’s Sure Promise,” a powerful mission article with testimonies from the Philippines’ field, Rev. R. Barnhill’s second article on “Entitlement” (especially for the young people), a book review by Prof. R. Cammenga on Mrs. S. Casemier’s new historical novel on Katie Luther, and the latest church news.

The editorial by Prof. B. Gritters is another timely commentary on the pandemic (part 2) that continues to sweep the world and affect our lives in every aspect. He argues that Reformed theology presents the best commentary on what we are seeing and experiencing, looking this time at the last two parts of Reformed doctrine – Eschatology and Christology. Here is part of what he has to say:

We live in a very difficult time, when our Father’s hand brings disease and gives the world over to the lawlessness it so fervently seeks.

Reformed theology has the best, really the only, way to interpret for the people of God these otherwise strange and fearful happenings in the world. Reformed theology, we are convinced, is simply the doctrine of the Bible, and the Bible is the lens through which the believer must look in order to bring order out of the disorder. That is, Reformed theology is faith’s seeing what unbelief and false teaching cannot see. Reformed theology is faith’s understanding of what unbelief and heresy finds utterly confounding.

Last time I gave a sampling of doctrines from four of the six chapters (loci) of Reformed theology that help clarify what otherwise might be fuzzy to men, that shed light on what otherwise might be dim or even dark. That editorial treated theology and God’s sovereign providence and just judgments; anthropology and man’s fall into sin and death; soteriology and the graces of sanctification and hope that God works through affliction; ecclesiology and the importance of public worship and the relationship between church and state. Here, I follow up with the last two chapters, eschatology and Christology.

Eschatology (The Doctrine of the End Times): Heaven on Earth?

If it’s true that Christians wrongly react to the pandemic, and churches wrongly explain troubles in the world on account of bad theology, anthropology, soteriology, and ecclesiology, it is even more so on account of false teachings in eschatology. Eschatology teaches the people of God what to expect in the end times, what is the goal of God with the church’s labors in the world, to what believers ought to aim, and unto what they press their efforts. Eschatology deals with the future—the near future and the distant future, the future of the church and the future of this world, the future of the devil and his hosts and the future of King Jesus and His relationship to all created things.

Getting eschatology wrong has been disastrous for most nominal Christians these days because their hope is earthly. Their expectations are for improvements here and now, soon. They believe God’s goal with the church’s labor is a Christianized world. So they press their efforts to fulfill the ‘cultural mandate.’ They labor hard to create an earthly kingdom. Rather than to carry out the Great Commission to bring to the nations the gospel of forgiveness in Jesus Christ, they want to redeem society from its chaos. Their desire is to bring the nations the ‘good news’ of social equality, food for the poor, clean water, justice for women and other oppressed people, and probably a vaccine for COVID-19. They are convinced that these are what God wants for the world and that the church is the instrument to bring them about. But note well, it is not the church as institute that carries out this work, through her offices, but the church as organism.

In addition to being bad ecclesiology, it’s also false teaching regarding eschatology. Instead of quickening hope in the coming of Christ, the false teaching leads to despondency, because the depressing happenings in the world do not bode well for a Christianized world. And as for the nominal Christian church—her drift towards Roman Catholicism and her ecumenical adulteries have rendered her impotent for gospel good.

Someone once said that when a man expects to be “hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” Wrong eschatology dulls one’s thinking, lulls the church to sleep. She now imagines a future of ease and prosperity. Her mind is not ‘concentrated’ at all, but clouded and then confused. If the future is to be so bright, how can such evils increase in the world? And what can be done to turn the world into a peaceful place, to make the crooked straight and the rough places plain, when men and nations are so vile? Their hopes are shaken. Worse, they expose themselves to the allurements of the Antichrist who, Scripture teaches, will someday solve the world’s problems.

This is the major error of neo-Calvinism today, in which the false teaching of ‘common grace’ predominates special, redeeming grace. Common grace prided itself in being a ‘two-track’ theology—special saving grace on one track, common grace on the other. God’s ‘common grace’ will remedy the world’s violence, poverty, injustice. Special grace saves souls and prepares them for heaven. But the two-track theology has become a monorail of common grace. Neo-Calvinists focus on the common grace that will save bodies and give a good life on earth. Neo-Calvinism is completely exposed to N.T. Wright’s “heaven is on earth” mantra.

The bracing realism of Reformed orthodoxy ‘concentrates our minds wonderfully.’ Reformed theology focuses our minds on, and directs our efforts to, preaching the gospel of God’s gracious salvation and establishing churches. Reformed ecclesiology teaches that the true church is the “Israel of God,” the new ‘nation’ for which He cares, and that the church institute is the messenger of that gospel. And Reformed eschatology is a-millennial.

Biblical doctrine of the end times promises victory to the church by faith in Jesus Christ. But it teaches that the victory comes through tribulation, suffering, persecution (John 16:33, Acts 14:22). It teaches that Christ’s coming is preceded by wars and rumors of war, pestilence and other troubles in this life, and apostasy in the church (II Thess. 2). It teaches that the days right before the coming of Christ will be like the days of Noah (Matt. 24:37-39), terrible days of apostasy and unbelief when the true church will be small and preachers of God’s righteousness ridiculed.

So Reformed eschatology helps believers to see clearly and to keep balanced in troubling times like today.

To read further in this issue, visit this link. To subscribe to the magazine, go here.

Living or Dying in Christ

Photo taken last night at Lake Michigan – beautiful “glory” sky!

As noted last week here, PRC missionary (and good friend) Rev. Aud Spriensma is writing some special meditations for the PRC website this month. The one he gave me to post for this past Monday (May 18) was especially relevant, as my wife and her family lost their father, Vern Klamer, the day before, Sunday, May 17. He was a godly Christian family man (husband, father, grandfather) and church man (served as deacon and elder), and we will miss him dearly.

As he was facing the end, he and we with him shared our only comfort (and hope) in life and in death, that we are not our own but belong to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who has fully satisfied for all our sins, delivered us from all the power of the devil, and preserves us according to Father’s perfect will so that everything (even death!) is subservient to our salvation.

Below is that special meditation missionary-pastor A. Spriensma wrote for this past Monday. Reading it, you will see why it is so relevant for our times – and for our present family time. God is good, and we praise Him for His mercy to us in our crosses and losses. In Christ, we have all and gain all, no matter what befalls us!

Meditation on Philippians 1:21

Living or Dying in Christ

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

A short Scripture text means a short meditation, right? No, it does not, especially for ministers. The less notes I take in the pulpit, the longer the sermon is. In our text, we need to understand what it means for the Apostle Paul when he states, “to live is Christ.” Second, how we learn to live for Christ, Third, we need to know why “to die is gain.” Should we wish for death?

The Apostle Paul wrote these verses to the believers in Philippi. They were concerned for him. Paul was a prisoner in Rome, waiting for his trial before Caesar. This trial could end with the Apostle facing death. In Paul’s absence, there were some who were preaching Christ out of envy and strife, and therefore they were adding affliction to Paul’s prison life. Paul wrote to comfort those saints who were concerned about his welfare. He said that all that was really important was that Christ was being preached. Paul was only concerned that his Savior was exalted and the gospel extended. Paul’s greatest concern in either life or death was magnifying Christ, his Master (vs. 20). Paul informs the Philippians that he is not afraid to die. He would be with Christ.

When the Apostle said so emphatically, “to me” placing this word at the very beginning of the sentence, he is giving a profound personal testimony. At the same time, he was drawing a contrast between the preachers who are proclaiming Christ out of selfish ambition. Paul was not self-centered, but Christ-centered. “For me to live is Christ.” Is this true of your life? Paul was concerned with the honor and glory of his wonderful Redeemer.

Paul was speaking of his life lived from day to day, continuous living on earth as a child of God. He could have spoken of the continuous hardships that he had faced. He experienced a thorn in his flesh that he had prayed might be removed. He had been beaten, stoned, and left for dead. He had been in prison both in Philippi and now in Rome. Oh, how he had suffered for the sake of the gospel. But he did not speak about those things. He spoke about Christ! Christ was the center of his whole life. Christ was everything. This was not just his preaching to others. Paul himself relied upon Christ for the whole of his salvation. He would boast in nothing but Christ crucified.

What is it to live in Christ? It is to derive one’s strength from Christ (Phil. 4:13), to have the mind, the humble disposition of Christ (Phil. 2:5-11), to know Christ with the knowledge of Christian experience (Phil. 3:8), to be covered with Christ’s righteousness (Phil. 3:9), to rejoice in Christ (Phil. 3:1; 4;4), to live not for self but for His glory (II Cor. 5:14,15), to rest one’s faith on Christ and to love Him in return for His love (Gal. 2:20).

How is this life possible? Not in ourselves. We would live for pleasure, sin, earthly things. Paul had been trying to by his own works to be right with God. It was only by Christ taking ahold of him on the Damascus Road. It was by the Spirit of Christ giving him a new heart and working conversion and faith. Paul was turned around from a physical life that leads to death to a new life lived for Jesus Christ.

Can you make this personal confession, “For me to live is Christ”? Do you and I live this confession with our daily lives: in our marriage, being a parent, in the workplace, the friends that we have, in our recreation, what we think, what we desire, and everything that we do? May God work in us and give us the grace to live in Christ.

Then “to die is gain.” This seems so strange, for death is loss. It is the loss of earthly relationships, family, friends, earthly things, and even our earthly bodies for a while. We know from Rom. 6:23 that death is God’s punishment for sin. But my friend, the sting of death has been taken away ( I Cor. 15:55). Christ bore all the punishment for our sins in our place. Death now becomes a servant to take us as pilgrims and strangers to a far better land. Dying physically meant gain for Paul. It meant that he would be with Christ (see vs. 23), “at home with the Lord” (II Cor. 5:8). Death is the gateway to a clearer knowledge, more wholehearted perfect service, more exuberant joy, and a closer walk. No more sin or temptation, no more sickness, pain, trial, sorrow, affliction.

Death is gain! I will be with Christ. I will be like Christ. All the blessings of Christ will more abundantly be poured out. What do you live for? Is the glory and honor of Christ’s name more important to you, or is comfort and ease of life? Paul’s life was so wrapped up in Christ and the gospel that he wanted nothing more than to see the gospel advance, even if it meant that others sought to add to his affliction. When life’s circumstances get difficult, it is easy to become focused on self. May we say, “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.”

“Jesus is all the world to me, My life, my joy, my all; He is my strength from day to day, Without him I would fall. Jesus is all the world to me, I want no better friend; I trust him now, I’ll trust him when life’s fleeting days shall end. Beautiful life with such a friend; Beautiful life that has no end,; Eternal life, eternal joy, He’s my friend.”

Comfort Greater Than a Pandemic

As our lives have changed drastically in the last few weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and now in our own state of Michigan a “stay-at-home” order was issued Monday by our governor with further restrictions on our activities and work, the fears and worries mount. Flooded daily with information about the spread of the deadly virus, we feel overwhelmed by the news. We try to stay occupied and keep our own minds as well as those of our children and grandchildren off the threat lurking all around.

But as children of God, we must know we also have an abundance of special peace and hope coming our way in these days. We have a comfort greater than any and all pandemics! Because we have a comfort that comes from the triune God, rooted in the love of our heavenly Father, accomplished by the saving work of the Son,  Jesus Christ, and applied by the irresistible grace of the Holy Spirit. Now, there’s an anchor for our souls!

And in these times, we are also being flooded with the gospel of this divine comfort. I think of all the wonderful sermons being produced by our pastors, just for these times. A couple of examples are Rev. C. Haak’s at Georgetown PRC this past week, “Souls Redeemed from Fear,” based on Isaiah 43:1. and Rev. C. Griess’ at First PRC, “Coronavirus and the King,” based on Rev.4-5.

Then there are the precious pastoral meditations pastors, elders, and members are writing and sending out to the congregations. One of our elders at Faith PRC, Tom Cammenga, has written a couple, including this one this week, which reads in part as follows:

To whom or to what are you looking right now for peace and security?  Is it yourself, or your neighbor? Is it the government? Is it the stock of food and goods you have amassed?  Is it the money that you have in the bank or in a retirement account? All these things are fleeting and can be lost in an instant.  

Let us instead, with David, seek the Lord.  It is only in Him that we have deliverance. It is in Him alone that we have our boast.  It is in Him alone that we put our trust. Let it be our prayer together as a congregation for ourselves and for one another that the Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts that enables us to say with David in Psalm 34:1-2: “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.  My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad”.

What then is the result of our seeking after and trusting in God?  First, He hears us. Think of that for a moment and be amazed and humbled.  The Almighty God of heaven and earth hears US! We who are less than the dust and are worthy of nothing less than eternal damnation!  He, as it were, bends His ear to us in His Fatherly love and tender mercy, and HEARS us. What a wonder!  Psalm 34:15: “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry”.

Secondly, He answers us.  Our God is not the god of wood or stone that is unable to answer those who seek deliverance from them.  Jehovah is the LIVING God and answers our requests. Psalm 145:18: “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth”. 

Finally, He delivers us, and that deliverance is total and complete.  Yes, He certainly delivers us from evils and difficulties here in this life.  And when, as it is at times, not His will to deliver us from them, He works them out for our eternal good and advantage.  Ultimately and most importantly of course, He delivers us from our sin and the misery that is ours because of it. Even now, though we still battle with our old human nature, in Christ, we have been made righteous, and in Christ we have and enjoy that beautiful Covenant relationship of friendship with God.  Even when we are afflicted, alone, or, as now, when we are unable to come together as a congregation, we are never left desolate and without hope. Psalm 34:22: “The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate”.   

Our own pastor, Rev. C. Spronk has produced some special YouTube videos with a comforting message from God’s Word. You will find one such here:

Besides, we have God’s Word of comfort through radio messages, such as on the Reformed Witness Hour. The Facebook page of the RWH featured one today, ‘Trusting and Not Fearing,” which was also posted on the  PRC website.

And then there is the powerful message of music. On the Voices of Victory Facebook page today the song “Don’t Be Afraid” was featured. It’s a beautiful song of comfort for these days. Read and listen to these lyrics based on Mark 4:35-41:

1. The disciples were tossed on a cold, raging sea
But Jesus was sleeping so peacefully
They cried, “Master, don’t you care that we die?”
But He spoke spoke three small words, “peace be still,”
It was the storm that had to die

(Chorus)
So don’t be afraid when the darkness is closing
The Master is near, His voice calms every storm
So when the world says it’s over, the Master says, “No, I’ve just begun”
In your darkest of times, whether rain or in sunshine, don’t be afraid

2. I know how it feels to be tossed by the storms
And I know how it feels to be battered and worn
But then I know how it feels to be carried on through
Called by the strength of the One who is faithful and true

Repeat Chorus

And, of course, the Psalms speak to us in times like this too, because they speak for us, as God’s children speak (sing and pray) out of the experience of their own personal doubts, worries, and fears. You are encouraged to make use of our Psalter online, including the lyrics, piano accompaniment, and special videos by the PR Psalm Choir.

Here’s a few lines from Psalter 34, based on Psalm 18:

1. I love the Lord, His strength is mine;
He is my God, I trust His grace.
My fortress high, my shield divine,
My Saviour and my hiding place.

2. My prayer to God shall still be raised
When troubles thick around me close;
The Lord, most worthy to be praised,
Will rescue me from all my foes.

3. When, floods of evil raging near,
Down nigh to death my soul was brought,
I cried to God in all my fear;
He heard and great deliverance wrought.

May we avail ourselves of all these means in the days ahead. God has comfort for us, the only comfort there is in this present world, comfort greater than the pandemic.

Carrying The Lord’s Vessel to the New Jerusalem – A. Kuyper

Doesn’t the picture of that Levite procession moving through an immense desert represent for you the pilgrimage of God’s saints traveling through the valley of this dreary life on their way to the city of the living God? Aren’t you carrying a vessel of the Lord as well? Have you been chosen as well for this task in his boundless grace?

Let me ask you this. What is the heart that you carry around in your breast if it isn’t a precious vessel? Jehovah wants to equip it as a utensil for his glory. He does this by sprinkling it with sacrificial blood and anointing it with the Holy Spirit, thus consecrating it to himself.

Doesn’t your soul belong to him if you are children of the kingdom? If you are regenerate and thus alive through your life with Christ? Doesn’t it belong to him so that you have no other right or obligation than to keep your soul pure? Than from now on to direct your life toward the New Jerusalem that is above, where your soul will be presented to the God who takes care of you as an ornament and trophy of his grace? That’s where it will be added to that vast, beautifully crafted display of God’s immeasurable mercy.

Won’t carrying that vessel of the Lord overwhelm you with the same difficulties on the way? The same heat of the day? The same dangers of the trip? The same fears about what you might encounter as those in the Levite procession expected on their journey through the desert and in crossing the rivers of their captivity on their way to ‘the river of God that makes Jerusalem rejoice’? Shouldn’t this command resonate with you as well: ‘Leave there; and purify yourselves’?

This is a timely word that tells you to break with the world around you. Isn’t this command to ‘go out’ the incentive you need to stop forever saying ‘I should go,’ without ever actually doing so? And isn’t the directive to ‘purify yourself’ meant for you too, so that you don’t just drag the world along in your heart when you physically leave it? And should the order to ‘untie the shoelaces on your feet’ be ignored with respect to the sacred things of God?

And then, after describing how the saints struggle in this present world to carry this precious vessel of the Lord faithfully to the holy city on account of sin in us and the allurements of Babylon around us, Kuyper closes with this paragraph of hope:

But for now and those like you carry your vessels as pilgrim’s on life’s pathways. You do this until you too reach the shores of the eternal Jordan. There you will shake the desert’s dust off your feet. Then you will pass through the valley of the shadow of death and enter the glorious, marvelous Jerusalem, where a place has been reserved for every ‘vessel of the Lord.’ Even better, an uninterrupted use in the worship of God has been foreordained there for every one of the Lord’s vessels. There, in the heaven of heavens, they will be retained in endless, completely blessed service.

Taken from the new translation by James A. De Jong of Abraham Kuyper’s Honey from the Rock (Lexham Press, 2018), pp.137-38.

This particular meditation (#44) is titled “You Who Carry the Lord’s Vessels” and is based on Isaiah 52:11 (KJV), “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.”

Foxes, Birds, the Son of Man, and Our Place in This World

No, no! Remaining here on earth is even less permissible for those redeemed by Jesus than for their Savior himself. They grow into one plant with their Lord and are thus cut off at the root from this world. To live in him is to live outside the world. Like pilgrims on a pilgrimage, they are no longer at home on earth but are on a journey to their real homeland. Whoever finds what they are looking for here below lowers them self [sic] beneath their true calling as a human being. They have no fellowship with God’s holy angels, but merely with the foxes, birds, and animals of the forest.

…Accordingly, whoever follows Jesus turns his back on the world. She repeatedly finds its charms fading. In her heart and soul she crucifies its glories. She does so not because she relinquishes a desire for happiness, but because she yearns for a greater, higher, richer, and more brilliant glory. In hope, he desires a glory through which already now his quieted heart finds itself swelling with a holy joy. This is joy in the divine splendor and pure luster of God’s kingdom.

…for all of you who regarded the world as nothing and were mocked and driven out of it, you will live ‘in the home of the seraphim.’ The precious word spoken by the Lord himself is for all of you who have suffered pain in your pilgrim wanderings: ‘In the home that is above are many rooms, and a place has been prepared for you there in my Father’s house.’

Taken from the new translation by James A. De Jong of Abraham Kuyper’s Honey from the Rock (Lexham Press, 2018), pp.7-8.

Seeking the City That Continues in 2019

The first issue of the Standard Bearer in the new year is now out (Jan.1, 2019) and the opening meditation by emeritus PRC pastor Rev. James Slopsema contains many good thoughts for us as we stand at the beginning of this new year of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The meditation is based on Heb.13:13-14, which reads, “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.”

Among Rev. Slopsema’s profitable words of exposition are these:

Here we have no continuing city, but seek one to come.

To seek something speaks of an earnest desire for something. It also implies that one does all in his power to attain the thing that he desires.

So also we seek the continuing city that is to come.

The “we” includes all the true seed of Abraham that have the same faith as Abraham.

The fact that the true believer seeks the heavenly city of God arises out of his faith.

Faith does not seek the things here below but the things that are above. That is, faith is not interested especially in things earthly and physical – earthly riches, pleasures, position, power, and so on. Faith is interested in the things that are eternal – the continuing city that God has reserved for His people in Jesus Christ with all its spiritual riches and pleasures. Faith is interested in the earthly only in so far as it is necessary to serve the Lord God and enjoy a foretaste of the eternal riches that are to come.

And so the believer is one that seeks the continuing city that is to come.

And this truth leads him to make this final application in terms of our calling in 2019:

This seeking of the eternal city of God must control our lives for the New Year and for every year the Lord gives us during our earthly pilgrimage.

Interestingly, what is stated as a fact in this passage for the true believer is also given as an admonition in other passages, although using different language.

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (Col 3:1-2)

“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt 6:31-33)

The necessity of these admonitions is the sad fact that the believer in weakness of faith does not always seek the things that are heavenly and eternal but the things here below. His desires are too much earthly and not enough heavenly. He becomes distracted by the things that perish, losing sight of the things that continue. This also hinders him from going outside the camp to be sanctified in the blood of the Lamb.

Let us this year and every year that remains live in the faith of our spiritual father Abraham who looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

“…We foolishly imagine that we shall nestle in this world forever.” – J. Calvin

For this final day of 2017, fittingly the last day of rest this year for us God’s pilgrim people, we consider these powerful words of John Calvin on Psalm 90:3-8, as found in his commentary on that passage (Vol.V, Baker, 1979, p.465, or online here).

The design of Moses is to elevate the minds of men to heaven by withdrawing them from their own gross conceptions. And what is the object of Peter? [in 2 Peter 3:8]. As many, because Christ does not hasten his coming according to their desire, cast off the hope of the resurrection through the weariness of long delay, he corrects this preposterous impatience by a very suitable remedy. He perceives men’s faith in the Divine promises fainting and failing, from their thinking that Christ delays his coming too long. Whence does this proceed, but because they grovel upon the earth? Peter therefore appropriately applies these words of Moses to cure this vice. As the indulgence in pleasures to which unbelievers yield themselves is to be traced to this, that having their hearts too much set upon the world, they do not taste the pleasures of a celestial eternity; so impatience proceeds from the same source.

Hence we learn the true use of this doctrine. To what is it owing that we have so great anxiety about our life, that nothing suffices us, and that we are continually molesting ourselves, but because we foolishly imagine that we shall nestle in this world for ever? Again, to what are we to ascribe that extreme fretfulness and impatience, which make our hearts fail in waiting for the coming of Christ, but to their grovelling upon the earth? Let us learn then not to judge according to the understanding of the flesh, but to depend upon the judgment of God; and let us elevate our minds by faith, even to his heavenly throne, from which he declares that this earthly life is nothing.

End the Year in Worship and Song

Looking for a profitable way to end the year tonight? Allow me to give you a couple of ideas.

First, attend the special Old Year’s worship service held in one of the local PRCs.

Second, join the Voices of Victory, Sacred Harmonies, and the Covenant Quartet at Hudsonville Reformed Church anytime between 8 and 11 p.m. this evening, for a night of remembering, reflecting, and praising our God in song.

Here are the details! We would love to see you there! Come when you can, stay as long as you like.

Thanksgiving Day 2016

From my wife and myself we extend to all of our readers a blessed and happy Thanksgiving Day greeting!

May we together give deep thanks to our God for every blessing in Christ our Lord, resting in contentment and joy in all of God’s goodness to us this day and throughout the year, and trusting Him for every need for every day.

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:1-5

For our reflection today we post this prayer/meditation from The Valley of Vision titled “Blessings.” I believe you will find it fitting for this Thanksgiving Day.

Thou great Three-One,
Author of all blessings I enjoy, of all I hope for,

Thou hast taught me
that neither the experience of present evils,
nor the remembrances of former sins,
nor the remonstrances of friends,
will or can affect a sinner’s heart,
except thou vouchsafe to reveal thy grace
and quicken the dead in sin
by the effectual working of thy Spirit’s power.

Thou hast shown me
that the sensible effusions of divine love
in the soul are superior to and distinct from bodily health,
and that oft-times spiritual comforts are  at their highest
when physical well-being is at its lowest.

Thou hast given me the ordinance of song as a means of grace;
Fit me to bear my part in that music ever new,
which elect angels and saints made perfect
now sing before thy throne and before the Lamb.

I bless thee for tempering every distress with joy;
too much of the former might weigh me down,
too much of the latter might puff me up;
Thou art wise to give me a taste of both.

I love thee
for giving me clusters of grapes in the wilderness,
and drops of heavenly wine
that set me longing to have my fill.

Apart from thee I quickly die,
bereft of thee I starve,
far from thee I thirst and droop;

But thou art all I need.
Let me continually grasp the promise,
‘I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.’

And this music video from the PR Psalm Choir is also an appropriate song of thanks for our reflection.

Things That Remain – Mrs. M. Laning

In the most recent issue of the Standard Bearer (November 15, 2016), Mrs. Margaret Laning contributes to the  regular rubric on the Christian family, “When Thou Sittest in Thine House.”

Her article this time focuses on our need (especially that of the Christian wife and mother) to hold on to the “things that remain” in the midst of life’s trials and temptations.

Here is part of what she has to write on this important and timely subject:

In our trials when pressure and strain builds, when everything around us seems to be collapsing, we seek to hold on to something stable, too. Whether our stress adds up to 10 points or 310, God uses events like this to teach us that He alone is our unshakeable Rock. He teaches us this by the use of illustrations, as well. Earthquakes are for “…the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:27). We must examine what we are standing on in our afflictions – is it the created or the Creator, the shaken or the unshaken? When we stand on what we thought was dependable but is now crumbling right from under us, we are standing on the wrong thing. Christ is teaching us to hold on to, to trust, that which will remain.

…Christ is coming to remove the shaken in order to reveal that which cannot be shaken! All the sin, wickedness, and haters of God will be destroyed, while Christ and His unmoveable kingdom will be revealed in all of its fullness, glory, and majesty. We long for the birth of this new day.

Until then, we are prone to tremble with fear and doubts when the Lord gives us trials. Our home is destroyed. Our health or the health of our loved one is failing. We have anxious thoughts, fearing the unknown. Will the surgery be successful? Will the chemotherapy work? Our child is wayward. Our husband loses his job and financial worries keep us awake. Our spiritual enemies do not want us to be firmly grounded upon the Lord. They try ways to shake us to stop trusting our heavenly Father. They tempt us to doubt God’s love and inscrutable wisdom in the trials God sends for our good. These are the times, most especially, that God is turning our eyes to look upon the things that remain.

Good thoughts for us today and every day. On this Lord’s Day of our returning Savior may we fix our minds and hearts on the “things that remain.”