Unanswered Prayer and A Hidden God

Sometimes, from our point of view in our prayers, God seems to hide Himself when He does not give to us what we request of Him. We ask the Lord for this or that, but we do not receive it. We may ask again and again, but what we request is not given.

From our point of view, therefore, it seems as if God is hidden. It is as if He does not hear what we say. We cannot find Him. Heaven is silent. No one is paying any attention.

The reason we are not granted our requests may very well be that we ask something contrary to God's will. Then it ought not to surprise us that God does not give us our request. The solution to the problem is, quite obviously, learn to pray, in every request that you make, "Thy will be done." James puts it succinctly: "For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that" (4:15).

But sometimes we are convinced that we are praying according to the will of God. Perhaps we justify our petition with a line of reasoning similar to this: "I have been given certain responsibilities of God in His kingdom and covenant. Now the Lord has sent me an affliction that makes it impossible for me to carry out my responsibilities. And so, because it is His will that I carry out my responsibilities, it is also His will that I be delivered from this affliction."

I am sure the apostle Paul reasoned much the same way when he prayed that God would remove the thorn from his flesh (2 Cor. 12:7-9). He was sure that he could not possibly perform his work as missionary to the Gentiles unless the Lord would remove the thorn. And so he prayed-- three times no less! Heaven was silent. God apparently did not hear him in his anxious request. God said nothing-- neither yes nor no. Where was God? Could He not hear?

Yet even this prayer was not in harmony with the will of God, and Paul's careful reasoning could not make it such. How often does not this happen with us! We mistake, once again, our own desires for God's will, although it may very well be that, as in the case of Paul, we sell the grace of God short. God's grace is able to do beyond what we ask or think, but we are sometimes, in our weak faith, doubtful whether this is really true.

God, in effect, told Paul the following: (1) Get busy with the work to which you were called; (2) Quit praying about that thorn, for I am not going to take it away; (3) When it comes down to it, I really cannot use you unless you continue to have that thorn. The only way you can do your work, quite contrary to what you think, is if that thorn remains; (4) the reason is twofold. My grace is sufficient for you to do the work, and do not sell my grace short. Also my strength is made perfect in weakness. That is, only when you, Paul, are as weak as it is possible to be and the work is still done, will it become apparent that I did it all, and not you. And that is the way it ought to be.

Prof. Herman Hanko 

When You Pray, pp. 147-148

https://rfpa.org/collections/books-by-herman-hanko/products/when-you-pray 

Affliction and A Hidden God

It is probably in times of deep affliction, when our souls are overwhelmed in us by the agonizing difficulties of our way, that the problem of a hidden God is greatest.

Our afflictions need not necessarily be caused by some specific sin in our lives. We have the example of Job to testify of this. 

Nevertheless, there are times when we ask the Lord for something that we are specifically commanded to ask for-- perhaps grace to endure some great trial. But even though we ask according to the will of God, we are still confronted with a hidden God, for no answer comes, even then.

I would venture a guess that, at some time in his or her life, every child of God experiences the same thing as Job. In fact, I am sure that this is why God put this beautiful and important book in the Bible. We all need it.

As was true with Job, sometimes God hides Himself even when there is no chastisement for sin. In a way, even then sin surely is involved. We are by no means perfect in this life, and always chastisement is for the purpose of correction. But God may hide Himself simply to teach us an important truth concerning us or Him, a truth which we have to learn and know. 

God's answer to Job was surprising and very disconcerting. It came, first, through Elihu, who seemed to be the only one with a correct understanding of things; but finally God Himself spoke of Job in that powerful and soul-shaking speech found in chapters 38-41.

In sum, these chapters make just one point, a point which was God's answer to Job. God had hidden Himself from Job. Yes, He did. But then He revealed Himself, and this is what He said.

"Job," God said, "you must learn that I am God. I am the one only God, the creator of all, great, glorious, perfect, beyond understanding in all My works and ways. 

"Now, Job, because this is true, you must also learn that I am under no obligation whatsoever to explain anything I do. I am not under obligation to you to explain what I do to you. I am not to be summoned, as you would like, into the dock to give an account to you of My actions and to justify My deeds. Who, really, do you think you are? Can you require of Me that I explain to you what I do? And even when I do what I have done to you, I have no need whatsoever to justify my actions to you.

"Were you present when I created all things? Were you there when I conceived my own perfect counsel? Should I have consulted with you before I determined to do what I decided had to be done for the perfect glory of My name?

"Job, the simple fact of the matter is that, as far as you are concerned, there is no answer. Nor will I give one. Nor need I give one. I am God!" 

Paradoxically, this is precisely God's purpose in hiding Himself: that we may learn this great truth. To use Calvin's expression, God batters us. We may perhaps rebel. So He batters us some more. We may, with great difficulty, submit but plead to know the reason. He batters us some more. We may cry out that we can take no more of this awful battering. He batters some more. We still have not learned.

And so, finally, at the bottom of the pit of our pain, God shows us that He is God and does what He pleases-- also with us. And so, finally, we say, Lord, whatever is Thy will, do with me as it seems good to Thee. Whatever happens to me is of no account. Do Thou Thy will. I want nothing more." Or as Job put it, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him" (13:15).

Then the God who is hidden speaks of His love in tenderest of terms and with infinite mercy towards us. He shows us that He never really was hidden, for He continued to hide all our tears in His bottle, but He assures us that it was necessary that He withdraw Himself from us so that we might come to appreciate more fully the wonders of His grace. He humbles us, but only to lift us up. He brings us very low, because only by our going through a deep valley can He bring us to the mountaintop. To forsake us is to draw us nearer to Himself.

Prof. Herman Hanko

When You Pray, pp. 148-149

https://rfpa.org/collections/books-by-herman-hanko/products/when-you-pray 

 

Heroes of Faith (2): CREATION

 

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made from things which do appear. Hebrews 11:3

This verse about creation is somewhat strange in the gallery of the heroes of faith. All the other verses in this chapter speak of people; this verse does not mention any Old Testament saint, but speaks rather of God's work of creation. And, of all things, it says, in so many words, that a person can hold to the doctrine of creation only by faith. that brings up an interesting point.

Let me try the point with an incident out of my own life.

In the years I was studying in Calvin College as a pre-seminary student, I was required to take a two semester course in Physical-Chemistry taught by a professor named, John De Vries. He had to be among the top two or three professors in the college. At that time, there were five or six professors in the science department, and all, with one exception, were theistic evolutionists. They all believed in a very old earth and, because the college was "Christian" and even "Calvinistic," they all believed in God. But they taught that God used evolutionary processes in creation.

Dr. John De Vries, who had worked on the atomic bomb project in Los Alamos, New Mexico, defended an old creation by making the word "day" in Genesis 1 refer to a period of time as long as many millions of years. He began his course by saying something like this: "I know that there are many creationists in this class (there were probably forty or fifty students in all), but I guarantee you that by the end of the year you will all believe in the period theory." (At the end of the year, I and two or three others told him that we remained unconvinced. He hung his head, got a mournful look in his eyes, and sadly said, "My first failures!")

He had many arguments that he raised in support of his views, but one argument especially seemed to be effective in the class. It was an argument used widely and repeated innumerable times by those who defended this particular brand of evolutionism. The argument was intended to be a major concession to creationists, but an attempt to draw creationists to evolutionism by, what I considered to be, dishonest means.

We were told, and I heard the same thing repeated times innumerable over the years: "It makes no real difference whether you believe in six-day, twenty-four-hour-days, or not, for the whole question has  nothing to do with salvation nor with the gospel. It has to do only with creation. The gospel came after the fall. One can readily believe in and defend evolutionism and still have faith in Christ by which he is saved."

Early in my ministry I taught an Essentials of Reformed Doctrine class to about thirty catechumens. They were all in high school. Our own high school did not exist at the time, and so they all went to a Christian, but not Protestant Reformed, high school. They were taught evolutionism, particularly, the period theory, in the school they attended. They were a rather unusual class of catechumens for from them came many ministers, teachers, elders and deacons who served with distinction in our churches. And so they were not exactly inclined to make a minister's word for it when it came to doctrine. The class meetings were filled with debate, argument and questions. It usually took at least two classes of an hour each to cover a lesson, and when we got to the doctrine of creation, we must have been on that lesson for at least six weeks. They defended the period theory, which they had been taught. They argued, among many other arguments, that it didn't make any real difference what one believed, for the doctrine of creation was not part of the gospel. 

I gave the catechumens periodic tests and, quite obviously, I asked in the test what the Bible taught concerning the doctrine of creation. One, very intelligent and very articulate person, gave the right answer, but wrote also, "It really does not matter what one believes, for creation is not part of the gospel of Jesus Christ." I wrote in the margin, "It matters this much hat if you still hold this position when you make confession of faith, I will refuse to accept your confession." I think I had barely finished saying, Amen in the closing prayer and this person was in front at my side. "Do you really mean what you said in the margin of my test paper? You will refuse to accept my confession if I hold to the idea that what we believe concerning creation has nothing to do with our salvation?" I assured the person that she had understood me correctly and that what I wrote, I meant. The person turned away and the only word I heard was, "Wow!"

I bring all this up because it leads up to the crucial importance of this text. And this text is decisive for the truth of creation. The text tells us that by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. And as I said in an earlier article, faith always has Christ for its object! The one truth in all Scripture which is fundamental to all our faith is that Christ is the eternal and only-begotten Son of God who came into the world to save sinners. Everything else we believe is only a part of that one great truth concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. If it is by faith that we believe that the worlds were framed by the word of God, then creation also is part of the doctrine of Christ. I shall explain why this is so in the next article, God willing. 

I want to point out to you now, however, that there is good reason why the chapter, which is the roll-call of the heroes of faith, begins with a verse on creation, while all the other verses deal with people. Think of it: All the heroic deeds of God's people as acts of faith could be performed only because these people had faith in Christ, even though He was as yet, in the Old Testament, only promised. And so, by putting creation at the beginning of the list of saints who performed such mighty works of faith, Scripture is saying: "You have to believe in creation first of all, if you are to have the faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham.... They believed in creation as part of the gospel; and so they believed in Christ, the heart of the gospel. If you do not believe in six-day, twenty-four hour day creation, forget it; forget the whole chapter; forget what these saints did; forget your faith all together. It means nothing."

To believe in creation as Genesis 1 and 2 describes it and to believe in Genesis 1 and 2 as a literal description of the origin of the worlds is to believe in Christ. Does that sound strange to you? It shouldn't. It's the teaching of the whole Scripture. We shall see.

Perhaps you [in the Philippines] do not have the battle on your hands that we have here [in the USA]. Here it is altogether too common that people try to teach a "Biblical" evolutionism. Christian schools at e very level teach evolutionism. It is preached from the pulpits and taught in the classrooms. It is accepted without question and Christians who do not teach some form of evolutionism are considered old-fashioned, behind-the-times Christians, who cling to old and out-worn theories, who hate science, and who are so totally irrelevant to our 21st century that they cannot even witness to our modern generation.

Creation is a doctrine we must believe - as it is taught in the Scriptures. 

Prof. Herman Hanko

Heroes of Faith (1)

This is a series called Heroes of Faith wherein Prof. Herman Hanko discusses the celebrated chapter of Hebrews 11 known as the "Hall of Faith." 

INTRODUCTION – HEBREWS 11:1-2

This article is also part of the introduction to a closer consideration of the heroes of faith. But it is Scripture’s introduction. It reads: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report.”

Whatever is the meaning of these two verses?

Commentators have argued long over the question and have disagreed, sometimes violently over the meaning of the two words “substance” and “evidence.” I happen to think that  commentators tend sometimes to make Scripture more difficult than it really is. I think the translation in the KJV is correct and that all we really need to do is take the verse as it stands there.

So, first of all, in  this definition of faith that Scripture gives us, we may ask the question: What does “substance” mean here? The answer is: The substance of something is what that something is made of. The substance  of faith is, therefore, what faith is made of.

The text gives us the answer to that question. Faith is “made” of things hoped for. 

What  are  things  hoped  for?  The  things  we  hope  for  are  the  things  that  are  in  heaven:  Christ himself, the whole church from Adam on, all the blessings of salvation, moral perfection, the glory of a new creation, the angels as our servants, freedom from weakness and sin and death, glorified bodies and souls. We hope for those. We do not want to live in this world forever, a place where we keep on sinning and suffering all sorts of diseases. Even though we sometimes live as if things in this world are really the things we want, deep down in our hearts we know that heaven is infinitely better than anything in this world, and that heaven is the place we want to go.

 Faith then is “made up” of those things we hope for. Faith is the same as those things we hope for.

When we have faith we have those things. All the things of heaven we already have now when we have faith.

All that sounds like strange language, but it really isn’t. Paul, in his letter to the church at Ephesus, tells the saints that God blesses us with all spiritual  blessings  “in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).

Paul says that the blessings we now receive from God really put us in heavenly places with Christ.

The Bible teaches us again and again that faith is the bond that unites us to Christ. And when we are united to Christ we are with Him, and being with Him we receive from Him all He has to give.

Sometimes the Bible uses expressions like, faith as appropriating Christ, or as laying hold on Christ, or as making Him our own. We do have Christ! We have Him as our possession! By faith! We walk with Him  as Enoch  and Noah  did.  We talk  with  Him  and  He  talks  to  us. He  even  calls  us by  our names.  He strengthens us in our weakness and is in fact our strength – by faith! You who read this article ought to sit down for a few minutes and think of all this. Do you really and truly realize that when you believe in Christ you actually possess Him? And, possessing Him, you have everything that heaven is all about.

Let  me  point  out  to  you  that  the  object  of  our  faith,  that  which  we  believe,  is  always  Christ Himself. We believe the Scriptures, but the Scriptures are the infallible portrait of Christ. Every last word of it is part of the portrait of Christ.

This is also true of the Old Testament saints. Let’s try to remember that as we discuss their acts of faith. They did what they did because they believed in Christ  – even though He had not yet come. “All these died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them ... .” The promises are salvation in Christ.

Our one question in discussing these heroes of faith is: What did these people do because they

believed in the coming of Christ? They did remarkable things! And we must do the same.

***********

  Hebrews 11 also tells us that faith is “the evidence of things not seen.” What does that mean?

  You see, while we have Christ already now in this life, we cannot see Him; and while the blessings we  shall  someday  receive  are  ours  now  (although  only  partly),  we  cannot  show  anyone  that  we  have them. Peter talks about this as well: “. . . at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet. 1:7-9).

Faith sees things that cannot be seen. Faith is proof that these things are real. Faith is a proof stronger than seeing. Faith is so strong of the reality of Christ and heaven that the one who has faith will stake his life on the reality of heaven and salvation. Faith is the ultimate proof. Job says, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.”

Faith is a wonderful power in the lives of God’s people. It is a whole new way of knowing and seeing things.

Let me explain.

Before Adam fell, Adam could see, know and love God, because of Adam knew God through God’s revelation in His creation; trees and birds, flowers and animals, stars and planets all revealed God.

But the fall of Adam into sin did two terrible things. The curse came on the creation so that the revelation of God in creation could barely be seen, for God’s curse brought death and violence to the creation. The creation was like a book that had been laying out in the weather for a year. Such a book, rained on and dried, rain on again and dried again, blown about by the wind, can hardly be read.

But something, happened also to man. He died as God said he would. He died spiritually so that he became totally depraved. He lost his ability to see God who has revealed in creation.

But even that was not the worst. The real reason for his inability to see God is the hatred of God that depravity brings. Paul says, “He [wicked man] suppresses the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18). He will not confess God. He is like you and me: when we do something terribly wicked that every one knows about, and we regret it, we refuse to allow ourselves to think about it and we try drown the wicked deed in the bottom of our consciousness. And anyone that forces us to think about it again, we hate because we cannot bear to think about it.

Whether such hatred is characteristic of an atheist, or of a man who goes to church but will not believe the truth, both are hateful of God.

Faith corrects all that. It is a God-given power to believe what God says in the Bible. Faith takes away our spiritual blindness so that we can “see” and believe as true what God says. Faith banishes the effects of sin from our hate-filled minds and wills, and gives us the power, the spiritual power to love God so much that we take the Bible and study it as carefully as a young lady reads and studies a letter she has received from her boy-friend whom she has not seen for ever so long a time.

Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, goes even a step further. He says that when by faith we put on the eyeglasses of the Bible, we can once again see God’s revelation in creation as well. God tells us in the Bible all He is doing and will continue to do in the creation.

By the way, this is why, we ought to appreciate the flowers, birds, trees, mountains and stars in God’s world.

In this way of faith, faith becomes the evidence, the proof of all the spiritual realities of God, His Christ, and the salvation of the church and the creation.

And finally, when a person really has faith, that faith does wonderful things in life – as Hebrews 11 tells us.

Prof. Herman Hanko 

What Prayer Is

 

Prayer is to the Christian what breathing is to a healthy person. Without prayer a Christian dies.  Breathing is spontaneous; in many ways so is prayer. 

Prayer is like a river that returns to its source, for prayer has its power in the Spirit of Christ working life in the heart of God's child; that life returns again in prayer to God who gave it. It is the expression of the thirst for God that makes a stag panting after the water brooks an apt simile (Ps. 42:1).

Prayer is lovers' talk, for it is a holy conversation between the living and eternal God and the redeemed child of God in which both speak to each other in the most intimate relationship of love. 

Prayer is a child coming to his Father, knowing that his Father loves him and will provide for him in every need. We must begin our prayers, the Lord says, with "Our Father who art in heaven."

In prayer the believer enters consciously into God's presence. There is an earthly element in prayer, for in heaven we will not pray any longer, at least not in the sense in which we usually speak of it. We shall see Christ face-to-face (1 Cor. 13:12) and be consciously in Christ's presence every moment. But here on earth we are preoccupied with many things, and God is often far from our thoughts. Prayer is the pause in our often busy and hectic lives that brings us face-to-face with God through Jesus Christ. Prayer is also heavenly, for it takes us out of this world and carries us soaring on the wings of prayer into God's own dwelling place.

Usually we think of prayer as those moments when we fold our hands and close our eyes and it is usually necessary for us to do this, because we are easily distracted and our minds are easily turned away from being in God's presence. But folding our hands and closing our eyes are not essential to prayer, nor do these actions guarantee prayer. A mother, while all but overwhelmed with the cares and duties of tending to the needs of her family, may offer a silent prayer to God as she has her hands immersed in dishwater. A child, taunted by cruel classmates, may seek grace from God to retaliate against his tormentors. A father, forced to listen to foul language in the shop, may, while operating his press, seek strength to witness properly to those who take the name of his God in vain.

To remember that prayer is consciously to be in the presence of God in order to carry on a holy conversation with Him will help us to understand how Scripture can admonish us to pray continuously. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Paul literally says, "Pray without ceasing." There are no qualifications, no limitations, no explanations that would ease the force of the command, but only this: "Pray without ceasing." The same admonition is repeated in Paul's letter to the Ephesians: "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit" (6:18). In Colossians 4:2 the members of the church at Colosse are urged to "continue in prayer," and to the church at Rome Paul writes that they should continue "instant in prayer" (12:12). This is the high calling to which we are called, the goal of sanctification in our lives. To walk every moment in the consciousness of being in the presence of God is that for which we strive here in the world, but which shall be ours only in glory.

Herman Hanko 

When You Pray, pp. 1-2 

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Heresies: Then and Now

 

Heresy has always been present in the church. It was present in the old dispensation when, already at Sinai, Israel worshiped a golden calf, which they said was the god who had delivered them from Egypt (Ex. 32:4). God's constant warning against false prophets could only have been due to the presence in Israel of men who were corrupting the truth, for example in Deuteronomy 13:1-5.

The times of Christ and the apostles were no different. Christ repeatedly warned against the heresies of the scribes, Sadducees, and Pharisees, who took away the key of knowledge (Luke 11:52) and crucified the Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

Paul frequently had to write his epistles to combat false doctrine; to the Colossians to ward off an incipient gnosticism; to the Galatians to defeat the Judaizers; and to the Thessalonians to correct errors in eschatology that they had learned from false teachers. Both Peter in 2 Peter 2 and Jude in his epistle warned against the evil men who were attempting to lead the church astray.

From the end of apostolic era until the present, the church has never been free from the threat of false doctrine. Fighting false doctrine is so crucial a part of the church's existence in the world that to ignore it is to run the risk of not understanding church history at all. One cannot learn anything significant about a man whose biography has been omitted the most important events in his life. One cannot understand the history of the church militant without understanding her battles against false doctrine.

A striking feature of heresy over the ages is the reappearance of false doctrines that had been taught in earlier times. Solomon tells us that there is nothing new under the sun (Eccl. 1:9). This is true of heresy as well as every other event. Heresy may appear in new clothing, but it remains the same heresy against which the church has fought many centuries earlier.

We can, therefore, learn from heresy and from the battle that the saints fought against it; the heresies are always very much the same. The church's calling today is no different from the calling of the church in past years: "Be thou faithful unto death" (Rev. 2:10).

If we live in ignorance of the church of past years, knowing nothing of its struggles, battles, temptations, and heresies it faced, we will be at a terrible disadvantage in our own time when heresy rises in our own church or denomination. False doctrine will seem to us to be only a new insight into the truth, and we will lose the benefit of the experience and struggle as well as the victory of our brethren from earlier centuries. We will be an easier prey for the enemy.

Knowledge of the past will give us knowledge to use in our own battles, give us assurance that Christ preserves His church against all the attacks of the enemy, provide us with skill in defending our faith, and make us joyful in knowing more fully its great truths as the Spirit of our ascended Christ has led the church to confess them.

May God be glorified through the story of the defense of His truth, and may the church be thereby strengthened in her calling.

Excerpted from the preface of Herman Hanko's 

Contending for the Faith, xvii-xviii

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Signs of the Times (39)

We are going to conclude our discussion of the signs of the times which our Lord gave to us. I intend to conclude our discussion of them by making a few remarks about Matthew 25:31-46. I would really appreciate your reading these verses in your Bibles and reading also the chapter I wrote on these verses in Mysteries of the Kingdom.

 

These verses describe the final judgment that will take place when our Lord comes again to take His whole church into heaven. It is a fitting conclusion to the discussion of the signs of Christ’s coming, and it ties in perfectly with the two parables that Jesus taught in the earlier verses of this chapter. It explains what will happen to those who are not waiting for the Lord’s coming, and what the reward will be for those who do await His coming.

 

The interesting part of this passage is that Jesus both teaches the doctrine of election and at the same time speaks of the fact that the elect receive the reward of grace.

 

The doctrine of election is taught in two ways. The first is that the elect are separated from the reprobate before final judgment is pronounced. When the Lord comes again He will take His angels with Him and raise all from the grave: the righteous and the unrighteous. All who ever lived will be gathered before Him as He sits on His throne of glory. That will be billions and billions of people. We cannot imagine very well how that will be, but it will follow the general resurrection of the bodies of those who are already in heaven or already in hell.

 

The division of all takes place, of course, at the moment of death, for the wicked when they die go to hell, and the righteous go immediately into heaven – except those who are still living at the moment of Christ’s return. In the judgment, therefore, the wicked and the righteous are separated. And they are separated as already saved or rejected.

 

The second reference to election is that the elect are called “sheep” while the wicked are called goats. The name “sheep” is one of Scripture’s favorite ways of speaking of God’s people. This is most pronounced in John 10 where Jesus pictures Himself as the good shepherd who calls His sheep by their names and leads them. And John, in his gospel, was undoubtedly referring to Psalm 23. Christ loves His sheep and died for them. And they are now publicly called sheep.

 

On the other hand, the sheep are given the reward of grace, while the wicked are sent into everlasting destruction. But the judgment is according to whether or not men fed Christ when He was hungry, clothed Him when He was naked, gave him a drink when He was thirsty, and visited Him in prison. The Lord makes clear that taking care of Christ’s needs was done by caring for His brethren, even the least of them, or refusing to do these things to Christ’s brethren. There are many who claim to be doing these things, but actually are not doing them at all.

 

What is the difference that marks those who truly do these things to Christ and those who do not? It is most interesting and comes to the heart of the Christian’s life. Those who do these things in such a way that they merit Christ’s approval, are not aware that they do them; while those who do not truly do these things to Christ are eager to tell the Lord of all that they have done.

 

Why is this the difference?

 

The wicked claim to help people by all their good works out of the motive of self-glorification. They are quick to tell the Lord that they did these things at every opportunity.  They gave money for many worthy causes and they did much to alleviate suffering. But they know they did it. And so they did these things for their own glory.

 

But the righteous are different. They are not aware of doing these things. Why not? They did these things because they were conscious of the great miracle of their own salvation. They were conscious of the fact that they were unworthy sinners who deserved only hell. They were not thinking about what they had done for others, but what Christ had done for them. But knowing their salvation, they were so thankful that they lived in humble willingness to love their neighbor – which is to fulfill the law. They did these things thoughtlessly, with no regard to their own good work. They do not even remember it. They know that in everything they did they sinned. “When did we see thee naked and clothed thee? . . . .” They did not think about it at the time, and they had forgotten what they had done. What they did was truly for God’s glory, not their own.

 

And so, when the Lord rewards them, they are surprised and perplexed. ”We never did anything for Thee, Lord. All we did was sin. We are saved, not on the basis of anything we did, but out of Thy great love for us.”

 

To them the Lord says, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!” They know that they are saved by grace. They gave and do now give all glory to Christ and to God.

 

Such is the Lord’s teaching concerning our calling while we watch and pray, waiting for the Lord’s return.

 

May God give us grace to live in constant hope of His coming and may we pray from our hearts, “Come, Lord Jesus; yea, come quickly.” There is nothing better in this life or in the life to come than to hear those blessed words from our Lord’s mouth: “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!”

Prof. Herman Hanko

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Do Ezekiel 18:23 and 33:11 Teach that God is Gracious in the Preaching of the Gospel to the Reprobate Wicked?

Ezekiel 18:23: Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways and live?

Ezekiel 33:11: Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

Q. But do not Ezekiel 18:23 and 33:11 teach that God is gracious in the preaching of the gospel to the reprobate wicked?

A. This is surely the interpretation of the synod of 1924, as well as of Prof. L. Berkhof in his booklet written in defense of the Three Points. But notice, with regard to these two texts, which are essentially the same in meaning:

a. That in neither of these passages is there any offer of grace or salvation to all, as far as the form of the texts is concerned. In both passages we have a direct statement by the Lord, the God of Israel, that He hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but therein that he turn and live. In the text from chapter 33 this statement stands in the form of an oath. It is, therefore, no offer, but a most emphatic divine assertion.

b. That in both the texts it is the house of Israel that is addressed. The Lord, therefore, through His prophet does not address the wicked in general, but the church, those who are called His people, those whom He chooses, but who have departed from the way of the covenant of the Lord. This certainly does not plead in favor of the interpretation that would apply this text to the reprobate wicked, or to elect and reprobate alike. It is His people whom the Lord assures of His forgiving mercy. 

c. This is corroborated by the context, especially of the text in chapter 33:11. There the assertion of forgiving grace by the Lord is an answer to the complaint of the people of God: "If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?" They were conscious of their sin. They felt that they were worthy of condemnation and death because of their transgressions. And they did not see a way out. They did not understand that the Lord is abundant in tender mercy and forgiving grace. They pined away in their sin, and they must surely die. To these people the Lord answers that there is abundant hope. For He hath no pleasure in the death of His ways. He will have mercy on them and forgive. Therefore, let them turn, and He will pardon, and they shall live.

d. Finally, notice that the Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked that turns and lives. Scripture elsewhere frequently testifies that the Lord does have a holy pleasure in the destruction of the wicked. For He hates all the workers of iniquity, and He shall laugh in their destruction and hold them in derision. But the Lord does have pleasure that the wicked turn from their wicked way and are wicked no more, He delights in their life, and gives it unto them abundantly by His grace.

From all these elements it ought to be very evident that the texts cannot be applied to the reprobate wicked; and, surely, that there is no general offer of grace in these passages from Ezekiel.

Herman Hoeksema 

Herman Hanko

Ready to Give an Answer, pp. 87-88

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Signs of the Times (38)

In my last article, I began a discussion of the parable of the talents that is found in Matthew 25:14-30. I made the point that the “talents” of the parable cannot refer to gifts and abilities (as we commonly use the term), for all men are not given these talents; they are limited to those who have a place in the church. They refer, therefore, to our God-given place in the church of Christ. Each one has such a place, some more responsible a place than others, but all a place.

 

Nor must we forget the main point of the parable. The parable answers the question of what we must do here on earth while we wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to take us to heaven. Christ is now in heaven, but history continues as Christ, from heaven, gathers His church. Christ will not come back until every elect is born and brought to faith in Christ. So the point of the parable is that each member of the church, in his own place, must work on behalf of the church, for the welfare of the church, and to the glory of Christ to Whom the church belongs. The church belongs to Christ Who bought it with His blood and we all are servants of Christ in His church.

 

There are two kinds of servants in the church: those who are faithful servants and those who are unfaithful. The former are the true people of God who are regenerated and converted and who love the church. The latter are not true members of the church, but are members only outwardly. Their main interest in life is not the church, but something that belongs to the world. They do not use their place in Christ’s church for the welfare of the church.

 

The unfaithful servant, when the Lord returns, makes his excuse for not using his place in the church for its welfare: “I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed. And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: Lo, there thou hast that is thine.”

 

It was a clever excuse. He said to the Lord: “Lord, I confess that Thou art the sovereign King of Thy church. Thou art able to save Thy church by Thy own power. Thou hast no need of us, for Thou art able to do it all. I was afraid that my puny and weak efforts would do more harm than good to the church. But I did take care of Your talent. I hid it in the earth. Here it is; take what is Thine.”

 

That was an outwardly pious but hypocritical answer to hide his own sin, for what he said about the sovereignty of Christ was true. Christ can do it all if that is His will. But Christ’s will is also that we who belong to His church must work in it. If we do not work in and for His church, we are hypocrites, and the text makes clear that hypocrites go to hell.

 

I think this wicked servant’s excuse hid other sins. I think the most important one was that the wicked servant was not satisfied with only one talent – an apparently small and insignificant place in the church. He was a janitor and he wanted to be an elder. He was asked to do very little of the church’s Sunday worship, and he wanted to be chairman of the worship committee – if there is such a thing. He was crabby and a complaining member who always found something wrong with those who worked hard. And so he said, “I am ignored. No one recognizes my abilities. I sit here in my pew with nothing worthwhile to do. I’ll show them; I won’t do anything.” And so, when he is asked to lead a Bible study, he refuses and says, “Let someone else do it.” In other words, he thinks he is more important than the church, and his criticism is not of the church, but of Christ who gives to each his place; and does so with a wisdom we do not have.

   

Underneath it all, of course, is a desire to accomplish big things in the world that prompts him to set above the church his earthly pursuits and interests. He, as it were, says, “If the church does not recognize my abilities, I’ll show them what I can do by being successful in my job and business.”

 

The sin is terrible enough to warrant the punishment of hell.

 

But the faithful servant recognizes that his place in the church, no matter how unimportant by the standards of men’s measurements, makes him humbly thankful for a place in the church given him by unmerited favor (grace) and even though he is undeserving. And so, with joyful thanksgiving, he puts the church first in his life and does everything else in his daily occupation to seek the welfare of the church. He loves the church, sacrifices for it, gives of his bounties, prays for the church, does whatever he is called to do, and does it joyfully and thankfully knowing that Christ will presently come again to take His own church to heaven. In heaven we shall serve Christ in the glorified church and in the new creation perfectly.

 

I can think of nothing I prefer more than hearing my Lord say to me when He comes again, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”

Prof. Herman Hanko