The Necessity of Baptism

A reader asks, “If someone who was not circumcised was rejected from the covenant, is that still true today? Would it be right to say, ‘Yes,’ based on Hebrews 2:2-3? Another way of putting the question would be: Does Genesis 17:14 have any parallel in this dispensation?”

These are the texts: “For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him?” (Heb. 2:2-3). “And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant” (Gen. 17:14).

Although the questioner does not explicitly say this, I am assuming that he understands that baptism has taken the place of circumcision in the new dispensation (Col. 2:11-12). I am also assuming that he is aware that circumcision has no spiritual significance today. His questions, therefore, refer to baptism.

The answer to this question is indeed, “Yes.” The two texts quoted are relevant and make clear that the failure of parents to baptize their children is in the new dispensation as great a sin as failure to circumcise was in Israel during the old dispensation. It is even correct to say that those who fail to have their children baptized have broken God’s covenant. There are several things that must be said about this.

In the first place, the question immediately comes up: What about Baptists? Baptists believe only in “believer’s baptism.” That is, only those who are old enough to make a credible profession of their faith in Christ are to be baptized.

There is no question about it that they are very wrong in their theology. This is not the forum, however, in which to debate the whole question of infant baptism. But the situation of Baptists is somewhat different from the situation presupposed by the questioner. The texts quoted have to do with Israel, and Israel was the church of the Old Testament. These people were, therefore, God’s covenant people. The context is exactly that God establishes His covenant with Abraham and his seed, and gives circumcision as the sign and seal of the covenant. The refusal of an Israelite to have his child circumcised was a flat-out rejection of the sign of the covenant and, therefore, of the covenant itself.

God’s commands had to do, therefore, with His covenant people. The Baptists do not even have a biblical covenant doctrine. The punishment for one of God’s covenant people who refused to circumcise his children was to be cut off from the covenant, from the Old Testament church and from the people of God. In fact, by refusing to circumcise their children, they were cutting themselves off from the covenant people of God.

The New Testament equivalent of this punishment for those who refuse to baptize their children is Christian discipline, ending in excommunication from the church and thus from God’s covenant people.

That such refusal was a serious matter in Israel is evident from the fact that God was ready to kill Moses for not having circumcised his two sons. The narrative is given in Scripture in Exodus 4:24-26. It seems as if Moses’ wife, Zipporah, was the one who refused to have the boys circumcised. Even though she had been born and raised in a home where God was worshipped and served, she was not of the seed of Abraham and did not have directly the promises of the covenant, nor the sign of it. Nevertheless, they were both on their way to join Israel, and God insisted that they become a part of His covenant people by giving their sons the sign of His covenant. They would not be a part of God’s covenant people without it.

It seems as if during the forty-years wandering in the wilderness, the people also failed to circumcise their sons. I wonder sometimes if this was not due to the fact that every person older than twenty was killed in the wilderness, except Joshua and Caleb. However that may be, the nation could not enter the promised land without all the uncircumcised males being circumcised (Josh. 5:2-9).

It must be understood that circumcision and baptism are signs and seals of the covenant that are added to the Word of God as visible proof of the truth of the gospel that God establishes His people in the line of generations. Infants who are born dead and or who die shortly after birth need not be baptized: their salvation does not depend on it, contrary to Rome’s teaching. There is no magical power or even spiritual power in the water of baptism; it derives its power from being a sign and seal that accompanies the Word. The power is that of the Holy Spirit who works grace in the believer through faith in Christ.    

Prof. Hanko

Covenant Reformed News, November 2014

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Signs of the Times (31)

 

We have finished the discussion of the signs themselves which the Lord gave us in Matthew 24:4-31. The rest of chapter 24 and the whole of chapter 25 are given over to a discussion of the practical significance of these signs; that is, the Lord does not merely give us these signs for our information, but He adds to the signs that a knowledge of these signs requires of us a life different from the world in which we live.

 

Peter talks about the same thing, when in II Peter 3:11, after telling us that this present world will be destroyed when the Lord comes again, he says, “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation (manner of life) and godliness?”

 

Our Lord, Who is coming again to take us and all His church into heaven, says that while we wait for Him to come, we must live a life different from the wicked people who want only this present world; we must take a different attitude towards the things of this world, seeing that we are going to receive a new heavens and a new earth.

 

And so we are going to spend, the Lord willing, a few articles in discussing the rest of Matthew 24 and the whole of Matthew 25.

 

In this articles, I intend to comment on Matthew 24:32-35. I will quote them, although it is better for you to look up these verses and follow along.

 

The verses read: “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, But my words shall not pass away.”

 

Jesus uses the fig tree as an earthly parable of our calling to pay attention to the signs of His coming.

 

The fig tree produced its ripe fruit in Palestine in May or June. By that time the tree was covered with thick bunches of leaves. This is why our Lord expected fruit in a fig tree that had an abundance of leaves, but proved to have no figs. It was the time of the feast of the Passover and was, therefore, May. He cursed the tree and it died (Mark 11:12-14, 20-21).

 

By the way, Jesus did not curse the fig tree because, in a fit of pique, He was disappointed that it had no fruit. The fig tree was a picture of the nation of Israel. It looked nice on the outside, for the Pharisees enforced and kept God’s law outwardly.  But when one looked closely, the nation bore no fruit. Jesus cursed the fig tree because the nation was cursed, and would presently be destroyed.

 

The sign was simple enough: when the tree was full of leaves, it must have had fruit hidden beneath the leaves, and that meant the summer was near. It is sort of like our country here in Michigan. When the trees start pushing out new buds and new leaves, we know that summer cannot be far behind. Sometimes the trees begin budding in May; sometimes it is early May before they start budding. But when they do, summer is quickly here.

 

When I was in high school (secondary school) our biology professor required a leaf collection for passing the course. But the spring was very cold and by the end of May there were still no buds on the trees. So, because the end of the school year was the first of June, he required us to make a collection from the pine family only, because these trees kept their needles the year around. But the trees did bud and summer soon followed.

 

This is a  parable of the coming of the Lord. When we see the signs of His coming, we know that His coming will soon follow. “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the door.”

 

The end of the world was so near in Jesus’ day that the generation living then would see the coming of Christ – but only typically.

 

This has proved a puzzling text to some who want to take it literally. But the text shows us that in the whole of Matthew 24 Jesus is talking about both the end of the world and the final destruction of the nation of Israel when Jerusalem was sacked and burned by the Roman legions under Titus. This terrible event took place in 70 AD about thirty years after our Lord spoke these words.

 

With the destruction of Jerusalem, the dispensation of types and shadows came to an end, the Lord was in heaven and He was working all things to come again. The whole new dispensation is the dispensation of the coming of Christ.

 

At the very beginning of these articles, I pointed out it is not really correct to say, “Christ will come.” It is more accurate to say, “Christ is coming.”

 

Maybe a figure will help. In the former days when train travel was common, if one would be in a depot prior to a train’s arrival, no one could as yet see the train. But there were many signs that it was coming. Porters and conductors began running around so that they would be ready to help passengers with their luggage; people began collecting at the gates; if one was near the tracks, one could feel the tracks begin to vibrate; one could hear in the distance the whistle of the train as it neared the station; and finally it would appear. The train was on its way and near.

 

When we lived in Montana, our main shopping area was in a town called Bozeman. Its train station was just west of a high range of mountains, called, The  Bridger Range. The train had to come over a high pass in those mountains. In order to get the train cars over that pass, two double-drive engines (twice as long as normal engines) were hooked on the front of the train and one double-drive engine was at the back. All three were huge steam engines.

 

When the signs of its coming could be noticed, everyone on the streets in Bozeman would run to the train depot. A hustle and a bustle would take place in the station to make ready for passengers getting off at that station. Mail had to be bagged to put on the train and preparations had to be made to receive incoming mail.

 

As the train neared, one could feel the vibration in the rails’ on the platform. Mighty bursts of steam could be seen approaching the station. Then it came: whistles blowing, wheels rumbling and engine roaring; steam coming from the valves and the top; the engine reaching three times higher than we could reach; almost like the engines had just won a victory, the train roared and whistled into town while the engineer was hanging from the engine window high above us waving and smiling at the crowds. It was impressive and never failed to fill us with excitement.

 

That is the way it is with the signs of Christ’s coming. And because the destruction of Jerusalem was a type of the end of the world, we learn from Josephus (an ancient Jewish witness to Jerusalem’s destruction) that some of the signs that Jesus mentions in Matthew 24 also took place prior to the appearance of the Roman legions. Many of the believing Jews, members of the church, fled to Pella in obedience to the Lord’s command in Matthew 24:15-20. There a Christian community was established. It was East of the Jordan in an area where the Romans did not come.

 

Literally, the “abomination of desolation” was set up in the temple, for the Roman commander set up the emblem of the imperial eagle in the holy place and forced the Jews to worship it. Those who refused, Josephus tells us, were frequently crucified. There were so many crosses made that the Romans could no longer find wood to make more.

 

That was the type; the reality is yet to come.

 

Prof. H. Hanko

The Impossibility of Missions

 

At first glance, one might think from the title that this article will fail to promote a healthy interest in missions. Who would be interested in biblical and Reformed missions if he is told that it is a humanly impossible work from many perspectives?

Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to remember that the work of faithful missions, including its important result of positive fruit, is truly a wonder of grace alone. Faithful missions is the wonder-work of the sovereign Lord of the harvest, in which the faithful missionary is only a servant and a tool in His hand.

Due regard to the impossibility of missions does not hinder support or interest in it. It will not drive a missionary to quit, nor produce pessimism about missions. Instead, it gives a missionary a proper direction, realistic expectations, a humble attitude, burning motivation, and sustaining encouragement in his labors.

The labors of a missionary are demanding. He must “preach the Word” (II Tim. 4:2a), which requires that he study the Word of God and rightly divide the Word of truth for faithful, expository , Christ-centered, and edifying preaching within the context of his field of labor. He must preach the Word in season and out of season, reproving, rebuking, and exhorting with all longsuffering and doctrine (II Tim. 4:2b).

The missionary must serve the Lord with all humility of mind and faithfulness of heart in the work. He must testify “...repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:19-20). He must in all his teaching and preaching not fail to declare “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). He must apply the Word of God to those who are in his audience and not fail to warn them of idolatry, heresy, false doctrine, radicalism, and ungodliness. He must call sinners to repentance from their sin and to faith in the only Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The missionary seeks to fulfill his work after the example of the apostle Paul, who testified about his work that “though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more... I made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel’s sake that I might be partaker thereof with you” (I Cor. 9:19-23). He crosses the cultural and economic boundaries as best he can to prevent unnecessary hindrances to the hearing of the gospel.

When we consider his demanding duties, it should become clear to us that a missionary faces an impossible task. This becomes even clearer when we notice that, as the Lord sends His servants through His church into mission endeavors, He charges them essentially with the same charge He gave to the apostle Paul: “...unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me” (Acts 26:17b-18). What missionary of himself can do that?

If a missionary, particularly in a foreign work, might forget the human impossibility of missions, then it will not take long for him to be reminded. For example, some missionaries are met with hostility by those who refuse to turn from the darkness of their false religion and idolatry, seeing the messenger of Christ as a serious threat. As a result, we know that missionaries have suffered death for the sake of Christ.

More commonly, there are other daily realities that a missionary probably did not think much about before he came to the foreign field. There may be for him the daily reality of a language barrier, if he does not enjoy complete fluency in the local language of his field of labor. He may experience occurrences of miscommunication due to differences in ways of communication. He may have day-to-day irritations of living: air pollution in a major city, roads choked with traffic, time consumed in perplexing traffic jams or in seemingly endless lines at government offices, and such like things. Compared to former experience in his home country, his family’s simple trips to a grocery store or bank in his foreign field of labor now consume much more time than expected. His work output, which previously in his home country may have been quite high, may drop due to unexpected demands from daily life in his mission homeland.

Perhaps when he preaches  there are irritations of the tropical climate that sap his energy for the preaching and the energy of the congregation or mission group for their full attention. During worship he may experience the irritations of interruptions and distractions from the noise of passing trucks, muffler-less motorcycles, farm-tractors, barking dogs, crowing roosters, cackling hens, the deafening noise of an afternoon downpour on a tin roof, and, sometimes, loud karaoke music from ungodly neighbors. With all of the disruptions and distractions, he may well wonder in discouragement in his work is effective.

If he is a western missionary, having come from a relatively affluent country and laboring in a place that has lesser wealth, he faces the reality of unfamiliar poverty. He will feel constantly the economic differences between himself and those among whom he labors and among the world in which he lives. This in itself brings an element of daily stress, concern, and responsibility in his labors.

The faithful missionary soon faces the reality of his own limitations. While he may want to preach far and wide and take on a massive load of mission work, his unique set of God-given abilities allows for only a limited workload. Especially in his times of sickness, he has time to reflect on his human limitations, his weaknesses, and the human impossibility of missions.

Even a calling church faces the impossibility of missions when calling a missionary. A calling church faces the question: will it be this call, the next one, or the next one after that, that results in a favorable answer? There are many factors and considerations that go into a call. Whether a minister accepts the first, second, or twelfth call of the calling church, that acceptance of a mission call is a remarkable work and gift of the Holy Spirit.

When a missionary considers that the work of missions is to bring sinners to repentance from their sin and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he realizes that he cannot open one heart to receive that Word. He cannot make the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak, and the lame to walk in the ways of God. He cannot breathe true life into a dying, withering soul. He cannot make lost sinners into saints, unbelievers into believers, lost sheep into repentant sheep, and the proud into the humble. It is humanly impossible to create that good fruit.

There are a multitude of things that are necessary to make this entire, spiritual enterprise of missions do what Christ promised that it would do and to make it possible for His servants to fulfill their mission duties. When one considers carefully all of the aspects of missions- from the calling of a missionary, to the moving of a missionary to the foreign field, to the establishment of a missionary in is work, to the actual preaching and the hearing of the preaching, and to many more factors and elements in missions besides- we need to realize that foreign missions, like the ministry of the Word in a local congregation, is a humanly impossible enterprise.

How should we respond to this reality? Our response might often be discouragement. Lofty expectations may have been dashed. Repeated calls to the mission field are repeatedly declined with repeated disappointment. The direction desired for important aspects of the work may often take unexpected turns. Unanticipated problems seem to interrupt progress. All of these things can add up in a missionary’s mind and heart, and he can be tempted to thoughts of quitting. He may feel as Elijah did, when the aftermath of the display of Jehovah as God alone on Mt. Carmel was not immediate and dramatic national reformation of Israel. It appears that even the apostle Paul, when facing hardened and fierce opposition to his initial labors in Corinth, and experiencing some discouragement before the hard reality of missions, perhaps contemplated heaving Corinth and going elsewhere (Acts 18:8-10).

Our response should be, among other things, that we reckon that missions is humanly impossible, and that the struggles and problems one faces underscore that fact. We need to reckon with that reality, lest we become proud when there are positive results, lest we quit when anticipated results do not materialize, and lest we forget the extent of our dependence upon Jehovah for faithful missions.

We must also remember God’s promises in connection with missions, and remember that God is willing and able to fulfill those promises for the sake of Christ. He knows that He has His sheep and lambs in this global city (Acts 18:9-10). He will gather those other sheep that ye must be brought under the rule of His grace, Spirit, and Word. Concerning His promises and commitment to them, “is anything too hard for Jehovah?” (Gen. 18:14a). No. What remains impossible for faithful missionaries to do is possible with our covenant God.

Often the work of foreign missions does not grow in grand, staggering leaps of progress. Often the work progresses slowly, with periodic setbacks; yet is is nourished and nudged forward by the still small voice of the foolishness of preaching. The work often begins in a humble way, which the Scriptures admonish us not to despise, because God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty (Zech. 4:10; I Cor. 1:27). What is the reason for that with respect to missionaries? The reason is, that no flesh should glory in His presence (I Cor. 1:29)- particularly when we observe that the Lord is using us to gather His people into the fellowship of His truth.

The wonder-work of missions is entirely dependent upon Jehovah from beginning to end. That truth gives missionaries incentive to do their work faithfully, within their limitations, and in their particular field of labor. They have the confidence that, by His Holy Spirit, the Lord will direct the preaching where it needs to go. He will make sure that His chosen people among the nations hear His Word at the right time and place for their repentance, faith, and salvation. That encourages missionaries, and even those who support and oversee them in the mission work, to give their best efforts in the service of the Lord, not doubting the value and usefulness of their instruction, sermons, advice, discussions, decisions, and labors. It encourages missionaries to fervent trust in Christ for His indispensable blessings unto faithfulness in the service of Christ.

Even though what will remain day after day is impossible of ourselves, yet day after day missions is possible for our God in and through us. Daily He will add to His church such as should be saved (Acts 2:47b). By His grace, Jehovah will draw unto Christ His elect out of their sin and depravity from all of the different cultures and nations of the world, and create them as one body in Christ and His truth. It is possible for Him to do that through the foolishness and weakness of the preaching of His glorious Word.

What a wonder of God’s grace alone to behold!

What a blessing it is to be involved in His wonder-work!

To God alone be the glory because He makes the impossible possible!

Rev. Richard Smit

The Standard Bearer (Nov. 1, 2014), Vol. 91, No. 3, pp. 66-68

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The Rise of ISIS

 

In the August 25, 2014 issue of Time magazine we found an article with this heading: "An Evil That Must Be Stopped: ISIS is the most serious threat to American interests in a decade. Why must we counter it."

If you have been watching world events lately, you have surely heard of ISIS, or ISIL. But maybe you wonder, who or what is ISIS? The acronym ISIS means "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria," and ISIL means "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant." ISIS and ISIL are the same group. ISIS is a new radical Islamic terrorist group of the Sunni branch that split off from the older al-Qaeda, but is worse than it. According to the article above, "ISIS is considered so extreme that Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda's central command, has condemned it." "People like [ISIS leader] Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi have been in a fight for a decade. They are messianic in their vision, and they are not going to stop." Their vision is to set up a new caliphate, an Islamic state, by taking over the entire Middle East, including Israel, and ultimately the whole world. "Terrorism has a new name, and now, for the first time, it has a well-organized, well-funded, well-armed military with the ability to take and perhaps hold territory." ISIS makes use of brutal and shocking tactics. As of this writing, they have beheaded three Western journalists on camera and crucified many Christians in the Middle East. They are growing in numbers: "There are reports of hundreds of would-be jihadis from around the world joining ISIS, including dozens from the U.S." Is it really a threat to the United States? ISIS "aspires to attack the U.S. and will, no doubt, soon attempt to do so. This is a threat we cannot ignore."

In the September 22, 2014 issue of Time, in an article entitled “The Never-Ending War,” we read that President Obama did not anticipate this new threat. In his second Inaugural speech he declared “a decade of war is now ending.” In a May 2013 speech he said, “This war, like all wars, must end... That’s what history advises. It’s what our democracy demands.” But this noble ideal will not be realized until Christ returns and ushers in the new heavens and the new earth. The terrorists do not care about our president’s ideal to end all wars. According to the same article, “The number of radical Islamic groups has increased nearly 60% in the past four years.” A former Homeland Security adviser said that our president “wanted to end the war on terror and is now dealing with a threat that is actually much more global....”

Not surprisingly, therefore, another war has now begun. On Tuesday, September 23, 2014 the United States and five Arab nations (Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates) launched a set of intense air strikes against ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq that essentially began another war. It has yet to be seen whether this new war will be brief, with this alliance of powers quickly crushing ISIS, or whether it will be a long and drawn out conflict.

We might also note that in addition to this larger threat, involving the rise of ISIS, the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas (in Gaza) has heated up again in recent months.

But how should we view this current war as Reformed Christians? What is the significance of it from the viewpoint of biblical eschatology? How does it fit into our view of the last things?

The premillennial dispensationalists, who inclde a huge number of American evangelicals, see these events as incredibly significant indicators that the rapture of the church will be any day now. They are on high alert. One prominent dispensationalist by the name of Joel Rosenberg, who writes novels in which he imagines possible scenarios leading up to the last days, gave a speech at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago on September 10, 2014 urging some 1,600 students to pay close attention to this crisis in the Middle East and to do whatever they can to suppor t Israel (www.joelrosenberg.com. Click on “Joel’s Blog”). Dispensationalists see these wars as setting the stage for a series of events in a seven-year period after the rapture, on the basis of a wrong interpretation of Ezekiel 38-39, they expect a massive assault on the modern state of Israel by a coalition of nations including Russia, Turkey, Iran, and Libya (cf. Mark Hitchcock, Iran, the Coming Crisis: Radical Islam, Oil, and the Nuclear Threat, Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2006, 167). Therefore they are on high alert as the conflict heats up again in the area that Rosenberg calls “epicenter” of the world, the Middle East. They are busy praying for the peace of Jerusalem, meaning not the church but the city in modern Israel. In his speech on September 10, Rosenberg urged the students to “learn, pray, give, and go” to help Israel, because God promised to Abraham, and thus to modern Israel, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee” (Gen. 12:3). Rosenberg urges us to bless the modern nation of Israel.

But all this tremendous enthusiasm on the part of dispensationalists is based on a foundation of sand. It is based on the error that Israel of the Old Testament was not the church, and that as a nation, even though they reject Jesus as the Messiah, the Jews are still the special people of God to whom He intends to fulfill His Old Testament promises. But Paul emphatically teaches that the true children of Abraham are not physical Jews, as for example when he writes, “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham” (Gal. 3:7). Moreover, the enthusiasm of dispensationalists is based on an overly literalistic interpretation of names, numbers, and other biblical data that produces this bizarre prediction that Russia, Turkey, Iran, and other nations are about to join forces and attack Israel. And this erroneous interpretation also produces the strange doctrine of the rapture of the church before the rise of Antichrist and the great tribulation. Scripture knows nothing of a pre-tribulation rapture of the church. Rather, we are warned that Antichrist will make war with the saints, that is, with the church (Rev. 13:7). The zeal of dispensationalists in respect to this current conflict is thus misguided.

And yet we ask, is there any significance to the rise of ISIS and the ongoing Middle east conflict? After all, we are not premillennialists either, who discard these wars as signs of Christ’s coming, who dream of a world that is getting better and better, who close their eyes to reality and look for a golden age of Christian history over the whole world.

No, the rise of ISIS and the wars in the Middle East are clear signs  of the coming of Christ. Concerning the whole period prior to His second coming, Jesus said to His disciples, “Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars.” And He added: “See that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (Matt. 24:6). Christ sits at God’s right hand now and opens the seven seals. He opens the second seal too. This is what John then sees: And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword” (Rev. 6:4). Christ sovereignly rules over all wars. He causes nation to rise against nation in order to prevent, until the proper time, the antichristian kingdom from achieving world dominion and peace. He prevents this in order that His church might do her work of preaching the gospel in all nations and training up her children in the fear of the Lord, until the full number of the elect is gathered. According to Herman Hoeksema, if the red horse did not run, if there were no wars, “the kingdom of Antichrist would reach the height of its development prematurely,” and it “would naturally leave no standing room for the true church of God on earth. It would persecute and, if possible, destroy the kingdom of God in the world” (Behold He Cometh. 2nd ed., Jenison, MI:Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2000, 214).

The rise of ISIS and this new war is a means Christ is using to prevent that premature development of the kingdom of the Beast and to give His church time to finish her work in the world.

But maybe there is something more to be noted in this present conflict, as well as in the entire set of conflicts in the Middle East in the past ten years or so. I have my eye on the second set of judgments shown to John in Revelation, the trumpets, which indicate an increase in the severity of the judgments that will come before Christ returns. I am looking specifically at the sixth trumpet, which gives rise to a voice in heaven saying,

Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred  thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt (Rev. 9:14-19).

This trumpet blast, which results in the slaying of one third of men, unleashes a war that is greater than all that have preceded it. As was said earlier, it has yet to be seen whether this war with ISIS will be brief or drawn out, whether it will involve much or little bloodshed, whether it will remain chiefly in the Middle East or spread into other parts of the world. Thus, we do not at all mean to say that this specific conflict is the sixth trumpet. Yet there is something here that calls for our attention. The sixth trumpet causes a voice to cry out for the loosing of the four angels in the great  river Euphrates. And these angels release an army of 2, 000, 000 horsemen who kill the third part of men with fire, smoke, and brimstone. This war begins in the great river Euphrates, which Hoeksema calls “the ideal and real boundary-line between the outward kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness, and therefore the symbol of the boundary-line between the Christian and the heathen nations, between the so-called civilized world and Gog and Magog” (Behold He Cometh, 331). We might add: between the Christian West and the Islamic Middle East. Hoeksema, who wrote decades before the rise of Islamic terrorism in the twenty-first century, says this about the sixth trumpet:

For our text pictures to us, according to our deepest conviction, a war which is caused by the inroads of these numberless nations [“the nations that are living at the four corners of the earth, outside the pale of civilization, and which in Scripture are known as God and Magog”] into the so-called civilized Christian nations... The purpose of these four angels is evidently to seduce the nations of God and Magog, and inspire them to war with the Christian world... When they are let loose, the woes of war and famine and desolation and pestilence flood the world, rising from east and coming from the direction of the Euphrates upon the entire world (331-332).

Look at a map of the Middle East. Do you see the Euphrates River running from the northwest to the southeast and emptying into the Persian Gulf? I am looking right now at a map of the Middle East that plots all the areas under ISIS control. These areas are along the Euphrates River.

Again, I will not assert at this point that the rise of ISIS is the blowing of the sixth trumpet. But I call your attention to this passage of Scripture, so that you will keep your eye on these current events and how they unfold. It may be that this is only one more was among the many wars that have occurred since Christ ascended into heaven. Then too, it is a sign of His coming. But we believe that someday a war is going to happen that will “rise from the east and come from the direction of the Euphrates upon the entire world.” Let us watch, for we know not what hour or Lord will return (Matt. 24:42). But, let us not fear. Our Lord said, “See that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (Matt. 24:6). We may suffer affliction, even war, but these things are not judgments of God for us. They are trials of faith. They can do us no real harm. They are meant for our good. They are sent and controlled by the Lamb who shed His blood for us. They are signs that He is coming back for us. They ought, therefore, to quicken in our hearts a yearning for His coming. For after the sixth trumpet, the seventh shall sound and give rise to voices in heaven saying,

The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth (Rev. 11:15-18).

Rev. Daniel Holstege

The Standard Bearer , Nov. 1, 2014, Vol. 91, No. 3, pp. 60-63

http://rfpa.org/pages/the-standard-bearer 

http://standardbearer.rfpa.org/