Loveland Protestant Reformed Church

709 East 57th Street; Loveland, CO 80538

Services: 9:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. June through August)

Vol. 6, No. 3 Pastor: Rev. Garry Eriks Phone: (970) 667-9481

Homepage on Internet: http://www.prca.org

Content:

The Church Unborn
An Intercessory Prayer for the Elect (3)
Are the Sabbath and the Lord's Day the Same?

The Church Unborn

Christ speaks often of those the Father gave Him who had not yet been saved (Jn. 6:37, 39, 10:16, 29, 17:2). They were given to Him before He gave them eternal life (Jn. 17:2), but it is for them and them only He prays (Jn. 17:9) and dies (Jn 17:13, 19). Their salvation and place in His church, therefore, are guaranteed.

It is for these that Christ delays His coming. Before He can come again in the will of God, all these must be born and saved. This is what we read in II Peter 3:9. Most take it as referring to a desire on God's part for the salvation of every person without exception (He is "not willing that any should perish"), but the passage has nothing to do with such a supposed will of God for the salvation of every individual.

The verse clearly speaks of "us." He is long-suffering (merciful) to us. His mercy means that He is not willing that any of us should perish, but that all of us should come to repentance. The word "us" is clearly inferred in the last two phrases of the verse.

But what is so striking is the fact that the "us" referred to are those who have not yet come to repentance. They are part of us - part of those who have "obtained like precious faith . . . through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (1:1): who have been given "all things that pertain unto life and godliness" as well as "exceeding great and precious promises."

Now, we understand that they have all this only as chosen in Christ and purchased by Him, not as those who themselves enjoy these blessings through repentance and faith. Nevertheless, election and the blood of Christ are so sure that they can be said to have these things with us and to be part of us.

Indeed, it is along these lines that the verse must be understood. To think that the verse speaks of desire of God for the salvation of every person, is to make nonsense of the verse. Christ's promised coming (vss. 4, 10) cannot take place until "all have come to repentance." For that, God in His mercy is waiting.

But, if God is waiting for the salvation of all without exception, then Christ will never come. All men without exception have never and will never come to repentance. There have always been and always will be those who do perish.

Rather, the coming of Christ is tied to the salvation of the whole of the elect church - the bringing of those "other sheep." When all of them have been brought to repentance by the grace of God then we can be sure that Christ will come.

To that end the church in heaven prays (Rev. 6:10, 11) and the church on earth joins with them (Rev. 22:20). Rev. R. Hanko

An Intercessory Prayer for the Elect (3)

Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. Luke 23:34

The reader who sent in a question concerning this text, phrased the matter this way: "This verse seems to have two problems associated with it: (1) It seems as if Christ is asking his Father to forgive all who hear him, indiscriminately. Does this mean therefore that Christ wants all who hear, indiscriminately, to be saved? Do we preach the gospel in this manner? (2) Christ seems to be suggesting that the people do not know what they are doing, and so therefore are not responsible for their actions. Is this really so?"

In our last two articles we answered the first question which is quoted above; in this article we propose to answer the second question: "Christ seems to be suggesting that the people do not know what they are doing, and so therefore are not responsible for their actions. Is this really so?"

In the last article we suggested that the conclusion of the reader to this question was true in a certain sense. To this we now turn.

It is, of course, not true at all that those who crucified Christ did not have any idea of what they were doing. They surely knew that Christ was the Son of God. Christ had repeatedly claimed this for Himself not only, but the chief grounds of Christ's condemnation by the Sanhedrin had been exactly His claim to be God's eternal Son.

They knew that Christ had gone about the land doing good; that He had not ever committed so much as one tiny sin; that He had done nothing worthy of death; that, in fact, He had preached the gospel of the kingdom and supported His claims to be the One Who brought the kingdom by many wonderful miracles.

They knew all this. Not only the leaders of the Jews knew this, but the common people also knew all these things -- although surely some understood them better than others. Jesus does not refer here to complete ignorance of their foul and vile deed.

But Scripture makes a distinction. It makes a distinction between knowing that Christ is the eternal Son of God, and knowing that Christ came to make atonement for sin by His death on the cross. Of the latter the people were ignorant. It is one thing to crucify the Son of God even though those who crucify Him know Who He is. It is quite another matter to reject Him and crucify Him knowing that in Him was accomplished atonement. For the first sin there is forgiveness. For the second sin there is not.

This ignorance is referred to in other parts of Scripture. In Acts 3:17 Peter tells his audience on Pentecost that they crucified Christ "through ignorance . . . , as did also your rulers." Paul claims a similar ignorance when in I Tim. 1:13 he says of himself, "Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief."

Scripture does not mean to say that crucifying Christ is not a horrible sin. It is indeed almost the greatest sin man can commit, and it is the culmination, the full realization of the desperately wicked depravity of the human heart.

But there is one sin yet greater: that sin is knowing that Christ died on the cross to make atonement for sin, and even confessing that truth for a while, but then rejecting that truth, denying the blood of atonement, and crucifying the Son of God afresh (See Hebrews 6:4-6).

This is the sin referred to in Hebrews 10:26, 27: "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." And even more: "He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" (Heb. 10:28, 29).

So Christ's prayer, answered already at Calvary, was for those who were at the moment of the crucifixion engaged in the terrible work of crucifying Christ. But that same prayer is for all God's people for whom Christ died. In a sense we are all at Calvary represented by that blood-thirsty mob which screamed for Christ's death. For it is our corruption and depravity which is expressed in all its grim reality at Calvary. And for us all Christ prays, because our sin, horrible as it is, is not a crucifying of the Son of God afresh -- as Heb. 6 calls it. Christ prays for forgiveness therefore, not on the grounds of our ignorance, but on the grounds of our forgiveableness.

This prayer is the beginning of Christ's great Highpriestly prayer for His people. It is begun on Calvary; it continues into eternity. It is on the ground of His perfect sacrifice. It is made to the Father that we may be forgiven. It is made that all our sins may be forgiven, because our sin of crucifying Christ is the greatest of them all.

But it is at the same time a serious warning. To confess Christ and His atoning sacrifice, and then to deny it is a horrible sin -- for which there is no forgiveness; for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:31). Prof. H. Hanko

Are the Sabbath and the Lord's Day the Same?

We have several questions regarding the relation between the Sabbath day and the Lord's Day. The focus of these questions has to do whether the Lord's Day is a continuation of the Old Testament Sabbath.

Some do not believe they are the same. Most of these people do keep the Lord's Day, but do not believe that it has anything to do with the O.T. Sabbath or with the Fourth Commandment, which requires Sabbath keeping.

We believe they are the same. We have two reasons for believing this.

First, Hebrews 4:9 says, "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." Remember that the word "Sabbath" means "rest" and note that the word "rest" in Hebrews 4:9 is "sabbaton," that is literally, a "Sabbath-keeping" or "Sabbath-rest." It is difficult to see that this "Sabbath-keeping" can be anything else but the Lord's Day, especially because the passage is talking about the New Testament in relation to the Old.

In the context the reference to "Jesus" (4:8) is not to the Savior Himself, but to the Old Testament leader, Joshua (Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew, Joshua). Hebrews 4:8 is saying, therefore, that Joshua did not give the people the true promised rest when he brought them into the promised land.

Joshua did not give it and therefore it remains for us. In speaking of that rest, however, Hebrews 4:9 deliberately uses not the usual Greek word for rest, but a word that is taken from the Hebrew and refers to Sabbath observance! Think about that!

Secondly, and more importantly, Jesus Himself identifies the Sabbath and the Lord's Day in Matthew 12:8, a remarkable passage. There Jesus says that the Sabbath is the Lord's Day: "The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

He first claims the Sabbath as His day, the Lord's Day, in this controversy with the Pharisees and then goes on to lay down the principles of Sabbath keeping as they still apply to us. Significant passage indeed!

We would add that He claims the day as His own not only by the statement He makes in Matthew 12:8, but by performing His great works of redemption on that day - His resurrection, His appearances, and the outpouring of His Spirit were all on the first day of the week.

It is by these great works that He establishes Himself as the sovereign Lord of His people. By performing these great deeds on the same day He tells us that there is something special about that day. Not only Christ's words, but His example is given for our instruction!

This is the day, then, in which they raise us with Him through the power of the gospel, the day in which He "appears" to us through the Spirit (Jn. 14:18), the day in which He pours out His grace and Spirit without measure and cause us to rest in Him. Let us for His sake honor this great day of rest. Rev. R. Hanko

We have a special offer of a lecture tape. Prof. David J. Engelsma, editor of the Standard Bearer and professor of Old Testament studies in the Protestant Reformed Seminary, recently gave a lecture which should be of interest to all. It was titled: "AD 2000: Year of Jubilee - by Papal Indulgence or Reformation Gospel?" Cassette copies can be obtained for $5.00 and sending to:

The Evangelism Committee, First Protestant Reformed Church,

2800 Michigan Street NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506