Missions of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America

Sister and Other Church Relationships

In harmony with the principles of holy Scripture and our Three Forms of Unity (Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of Dordt), the PRC through its Committee for Contact with Other Churches maintain full sister church relationships with three foreign churches and a corresponding relationship with one other foreign denomination.

Covenant PRC Ballymena, Northern Ireland

Covenant PRC Ballymena, Northern Ireland (162)

Website

83 Clarence Street,

Ballymena BT43 5DR, Northern Ireland

Services: 11:00 A.M. & 6:00 P.M.

RevAStewart

Pastor: Rev. Angus Stewart

7 Lislunnan Rd.

Kells, Ballymena, Co. Antrim

Northern Ireland BT42 3NR

Phone: (from U.S.A.) 011 (44) 28 25 891 851

pastor@cprc.co.uk

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Covenant Evangelical Reformed Church of Singapore (114)

Covenant ERCS 2022

Website

11, Jalan Mesin #04-00

Standard Industrial Building

Singapore 368813

Worship Services: 9:30 A.M. & 2:00 P.M.

Pastors: Josiah Tan (2021) and Marcus Wee (2022)

Ptr Josiah Tan 2023Pastor J. Tan

Ptr Marcus Wee 2023Pastor M. Wee

148 Bishan Street 11 #06-113 

Singapore  570148

pastor@cerc.org.sg

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Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Australia (EPC) (2)

For information on this small Presbyterian denomination in Australia with whom the PRCA have a "corresponding relationship", visit their website.

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Protestant Reformed Churches in the Philippines (11)

PRCP Organization Banner 4 9 2014

Berean PRC, Antipolo City - Pastors: Rev. V. Ibe; Rev. L. Trinidad (emeritus)
Provident PRC - Pastor:
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Covenant Reformed News - September 2024

Covenant Reformed News
September 2024 • Volume XX, Issue 5


 

God’s People Resolve to Rebuild Jerusalem’s Walls

How did the people of God respond to Nehemiah’s call to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls (Neh. 2:17)? They agreed to it! The church totally and enthusiastically accepted their governor’s proposal.

Thus there are two exhortations in Nehemiah 2:17-18. First, Nehemiah exhorted the Jews, “come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach” (17). Then the people exhorted one another, “Let us rise up and build” (18).

This mutual exhortation was mutual encouragement to serve the cause of their covenant God: “So they strengthened their hands for this good work” (18). Similarly, on the other hand, mutual complaining is mutual discouragement of the persons involved so that good work is left undone.

Thus we see that Nehemiah 2 outlines the various steps that were taken. First, there was careful preparation by the leader (11-16). Second, the leader made a solid and winsome presentation, which included an explanation of the problem and its solution (17-18). Third, the people of God resolved to do the Lord’s work (18).

Regarding the first of these three steps, Matthew Henry comments, “[1] Good work is likely to be well done when it is first well considered. [2] It is the wisdom of those who are engaged in public business, as much as may be, to see with their own eyes, and not to proceed altogether upon the reports and representations of others, and yet to do this without noise, and if possible unobserved. [3] Those that would build up the church’s walls must first take notice of the ruins of those walls. Those that would know how to amend must enquire what is amiss, what needs reformation, and what may serve as it is.”

“We have liftoff!” That is the cry when a spacecraft leaves the launch pad. All the rockets need to fire or the shuttle will never leave the ground or else it will ascend only a short distance before crashing back to earth. So too a large measure of unity is required in the church, especially for a big project to succeed.

So why did the mission to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls prosper (whereas many other ventures in the ecclesiastical world fail)? First, there was godly and wise leadership, that of Nehemiah. This includes his judicious preparations in both Susa and Jerusalem, as well as his prayers in Susa for four months (1:4-11), his ejaculatory petition in the royal palace (2:4) and his intercessions during his journey from Susa to Jerusalem.

Second, the people of God were zealous (by and large). We read of their constant prayers (1:11) and their wise recognition of Nehemiah’s godly leadership (2:18).

Third, the faithfulness of both Nehemiah and the Jews was the result of God’s sovereign grace. Christ’s atoning cross was the defeat of Satan and the world, because He bore all the sins of His elect. In His love and mercy, Jesus worked in the hearts of His children by His Holy Spirit. In the preceding years and months and days, Christ had been preparing and moulding both Nehemiah and the people of Judah. Now God’s time had come for His work so it would most certainly be done! Rev. Angus Stewart

 

The Civil and Ceremonial Laws (3)

We continue to answer a question about the Old Testament civil and ceremonial laws: “Is it true that the Lord Jesus teaches in Matthew 5:17-19 that all the laws of Moses, including the ceremonial and civil laws, are binding and must be ‘fulfilled’ by believers in the New Testament age?” Having spoken of the ceremonial laws in the last article, we focus on the civil laws in this article. Our answer has been long, because this is a matter to which we have given much thought and with which we have wrestled ourselves.

The Belgic Confession 25, “Of the Abolishing of the Ceremonial Law,” says this about those laws: “We believe that the ceremonies and figures of the law ceased at the coming of Christ, and that all the shadows are accomplished; so that the use of them must be abolished amongst Christians; yet the truth and substance of them remain with us in Jesus Christ, in whom they have their completion. In the meantime we still use the testimonies taken out of the law and the prophets, to confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel, and to regulate our life in all honesty to the glory of God, according to His will.”

The statement of the Belgic Confession that “the truth and substance” of the civil and ceremonial laws “remain with us in Jesus Christ” is the subject of this article. The Belgic Confession itself explains this to mean that “we still use the testimonies taken out of the law and the prophets, to confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel, and to regulate our life in all honesty to the glory of God, according to His will.”

That the truth and substance of the civil and ceremonial laws remain with us in Jesus Christ must mean that those laws had to do with Him, “his graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits” (Westminster Confession 19:3). It must also mean that there is a sense in which those laws are important for us, though we do not mean that Christians are bound by the explicit demands of those laws.

This is true of the ceremonial laws, for all the laws regarding priesthood, sacrifices and temple, etc., remain with us in Him, in that He is “the truth and substance of them.” He is priest, sacrifice and temple, the completion of all those Old Testament laws. We in Him are part of that priesthood, temple and sacrificial system: a spiritual temple (I Cor. 3:16), an holy priesthood (I Pet. 2:5), offering ourselves a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1). As we have seen, those shadows must never again be resurrected as a substitute for Him. We must not be like the Jews who clung to the shadows and rejected the reality. Most Christians understand that. Reading these things in the Old Testament confirms us in the doctrine of the gospel, and shows us that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin (Heb. 10:4), that we need a better priest than Aaron who was himself a sinner and had first to offer for his own sins (cf. 5:1-4). They teach us that the true temple of God is a temple not built with hands, eternal in the heavens (cf. 8:2; 9:24). The book of Hebrews is Scripture’s great treatise on this subject.

What is true of the ceremonial laws is also true of the civil laws. They are not to be set aside as worthless, though they have expired. There is still truth in them for the New Testament Christian. A couple of examples from Scripture will serve.

The law of Deuteronomy 22:10, “Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together,” is applied to New Testament believers in II Corinthians 6:14, 16: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? ... what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them.” In this way, “the truth and substance” of the commandment remain with us in Christ, and “we still use the testimonies taken out of the law and the prophets, to confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel, and to regulate our life in all honesty to the glory of God, according to His will.” Indeed, that was always “the truth and substance” of Deuteronomy 22:10. There is nothing inherently wrong with ploughing with an ox and an ass, though it might be unwise as far as getting any work done. The law was always meant to teach Israel not to join themselves to the heathen (Deut. 33:28).

It was an application of the first table of the law: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matt. 22:37), that is, we must have, hold and love no one or anything beside Him. An Israelite who knew this command could never go out to plough his field, even if an ox and an ass were the only animals he had, and they were of similar height, without being reminded of the first table of the law and its demands (Deut. 6:5; 10:12; 30:6). It is in this way that Deuteronomy 22:10 is still to be read with profit by Christians and in this way we “regulate our life in all honesty to the glory of God, according to His will.”

Another example is the law of Deuteronomy 25:4, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.” Though perhaps unkind, there is nothing inherently wrong with muzzling the ox, especially if one treats his ox well and feeds him properly on other occasions. “The truth and substance” of that law, however, remains and that is what I Corinthians 9:7-10 teaches: “Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.”

Though Paul refused any wages from the church in Corinth (II Cor. 11:7-9; 12:13-18), Scripture insists that “the workman is worthy of his meat” (Matt. 10:10). That is true of those who serve in the church but also of the hired man. Thus Colossians 4:1 is also an application of Deuteronomy 25:4: “Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.” Those who broke the law of muzzling an ox in the Old Testament also, therefore, broke the tenth commandment, “Thou shalt not covet,” for Deuteronomy 25:4 is an application of that commandment and also of the eighth, “Thou shalt not steal.”

Thus the law about muzzling the ox has expired and cannot even be kept in those countries where threshing is done by combines. You cannot muzzle a combine harvester and it cannot be “partaker of ... hope.” God said that Israelites must not muzzle their oxen when threshing their wheat. However, He said it not out of care for the oxen but for our sakes, that is, to teach Israel the principles of the ten commandments, and to remind us also of the importance of justice, mercy and equity even in our daily dealings. Thus, though we do not thresh with oxen and though we do not need to follow the explicit requirement of Deuteronomy 25:4, “we still use the testimonies taken out of the law and the prophets, to confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel, and to regulate our life in all honesty to the glory of God, according to His will.”

This is important in our use of the Old Testament. It is not to be set aside, though we might find the rules and regulations somewhat tedious. They are there “for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (I Cor. 10:11).

There is one other thing about the civil laws. There are so many rules and regulations that it must have been impossible, unless one were an Old Testament priest or rabbi, even to remember them all, much less obey them all. God had His saving purpose even in that. The sheer number of commandments and their requirements must have taught believing Israel that salvation could not come by the works of the law—that it was impossible for anyone to obey the law of God perfectly. In that way, the law was a “schoolmaster” to bring them to Christ (Gal. 3:24). It still functions that way and that is the first use of the law as well (cf. Heidelberg Catechism, Q. & A. 3).

Question 115 of the Heidelberg Catechism asks, “Why will God then have the ten commandments so strictly preached, since no man in this life can keep them?” The answer is, “First, that all our lifetime we may learn more and more to know our sinful nature, and thus become the more earnest in seeking the remission of sin and righteousness in Christ; likewise, that we constantly endeavor, and pray to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, that we may become more and more conformable to the image of God, till we arrive at the perfection proposed to us in a life to come.” The moral law continues in force, though the applications of it to Israel’s life have expired. We do not remove the civil and ceremonial laws from our Bibles, however, but continue to read and study them.

May the Old Testament civil and ceremonial laws continue to “confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel, and to regulate our life in all honesty to the glory of God, according to His will.” Rev. Ron Hanko

Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena, BT43 5DR • Lord’s Day services at 11 am & 6 pm
Website: https://cprc.co.uk/ • Live broadcast: cprc.co.uk/live-streaming/
Pastor: Angus Stewart, 7 Lislunnan Road, Kells, N. Ireland, BT42 3NR • (028) 25 891851  
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. • www.youtube.com/cprcni • www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC
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Covenant Reformed News - August 2024

Covenant Reformed News
August 2024 • Volume XX, Issue 4


 

Let Us Rebuild Jerusalem’s Walls!

What did Nehemiah do after his earnest prayers, careful preparations and confidential investigations (Neh. 1:1-2:16)? He called God’s people to a public meeting.

At that assembly, Nehemiah first outlined the problem. In material terms, Jerusalem’s walls were mostly rubble and its gates were charred wood, as he had witnessed personally on his secret night ride around the city’s perimeter. In more emotional terms, Nehemiah reminded the people that they were ridiculed by their enemies.

But did the people themselves not know this? Of course they did! And Governor Nehemiah knew that they knew it: “Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire” (17). The leader clearly states the pressing issue so that all are agreed that this is the problem.

Second, Nehemiah presented the obvious solution. We must rebuild the walls and the gates. Then we will no longer be taunted and mocked, as if our God were unable to defend and care for His people. How did David put it? “Is there not a cause?” (I Sam. 17:29). The cause may be fighting Goliath or building up a local church or training our children in God’s glorious truth or battling against incessant discouragement or a larger scale project, such as establishing a Reformed day school.

Third, after stating the problem and its solution, Nehemiah exhorts, “come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach” (Neh. 2:17).

Fourth, this raises the issue of identification. Nehemiah did not say, “You have a problem and I will give orders to you and you must work to effect the solution.” Instead, Nehemiah identified himself with the problem and its solution, and included himself in his exhortation. Look out for “we” and “us” in the governor’s address: “Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach” (17). Nehemiah spoke of “we” and “us,” because he was a living and godly member in Israel, and he had gotten to know God’s people in Jerusalem.

Fifth, Nehemiah reinforced his exhortation by presenting his double authorization. In the first instance, Jehovah had called and led him: “Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me” (18). At this point, Nehemiah may have informed them of his persevering prayer in his closet (1:4-11) and his ejaculatory prayer in the palace (2:4). “I was Artaxerxes’ cupbearer and am now governor of Judah and I will rebuild Jerusalem’s walls, by our Lord’s good providence.”

In the second instance, Nehemiah appeals to his authority from Medo-Persian Emperor Artaxerxes: “Then I told them [1] of the hand of my God which was good upon me; [2] as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me” (18). The governor informed them that Artaxerxes had granted him imperial authority to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls (5-6) and to requisition the necessary timber from the emperor’s forests (8). There are situations, even in our day, when the Lord’s work requires civil authorization, for example, permits to erect church buildings. Rev. Stewart

 

The Civil and Ceremonial Laws (2)

We continue our answer to the question: “Is it true that the Lord Jesus teaches in Matthew 5:17-19 that all the law of Moses, including the ceremonial and civil laws, are binding and must be ‘fulfilled’ by believers in the New Testament age?” Having spoken of the ceremonial laws last month, we focus on the civil laws in this article.

The civil laws of the Old Testament are those that had to do with Israel’s every-day life: food and cooking, bodily adornment and appearance, sanitation and health, work and possessions, government and taxes, crime and its punishment, marriage and family. There is not an absolute difference between these and the ceremonial laws, but it is these laws that are haled by Christian Reconstructionists and Theonomists as still in force and necessary for the establishment of their future post-millennial golden age.

These movements teach that, unless such laws are explicitly abrogated in the New Testament, they are still obligatory in the New Testament. Some of them even argue against particular passages of the New Testament that do abrogate various Old Testament laws. Peter’s vision of the unclean animals let down in a sheet from heaven, and the command given him to rise and eat, they say, does not do away with the Old Testament food laws, but was only a command to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. Certainly God used a change in those Old Testament food laws to teach Peter and the church about preaching to the Gentiles. Yet God’s word to Peter did concern those formerly unclean animals. Peter was commanded to eat what he formerly was not allowed to eat: “And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean” (Acts 10:13-14; cf. 11:7-8).

One finds these Theonomists and Reconstructionists scrambling to explain how some of those civil laws apply in the New Testament. The law of Deuteronomy 22:8 required the Israelites to build a “battlement” or parapet around a flat roof that was used as living space. In societies where such roofs do not exist, this is applied to swimming pools and the necessity of a fence around them.

We use this example deliberately. The wisdom of the rule regarding flat roofs, and the wisdom of having a fence around a swimming pool that is accessible to children is unquestionable, so much so that some municipalities require a fenced pool. Such is, we believe, what the Westminster Confession of Faith calls the “general equity” of the Old Testament civil laws (19:4). This refers to legislative principles that are not arbitrary, but just and right. Nevertheless, a man does not break God’s law if he does not have a fence around his swimming pool. He may have to suffer the consequences of that decision but he does not sin simply by having an unfenced pool.

Along these same lines, there was a great deal of wisdom in the food laws which God gave Israel but there is no obligation in the New Testament to follow them. One may eat pork (and eat it much more safely) in the New Testament. Nevertheless, God’s word to Peter stands. One may even have his sons circumcised, though never as something necessary for salvation (Acts 16:1-3; Gal. 5:1-3). What is more, the application of these laws to modern society by way of establishing a Christian society comes very close to a denial of salvation by grace and by faith alone. Fenced swimming pools and a pigless diet do not make a Christian society. God’s sovereign grace alone makes a Christian society and that society is already in existence. Scripture calls it the church: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (I Pet. 2:9). That “society” exists within a society that is always and inimically opposed to the kingdom of God, and which cannot be transformed by the mere application of Old Testament civil law.

The Westminster Confession of Faith is correct when it says that these laws “expired together with the state of that people,” that is, with the expiration of Israel as God’s chosen nation came also an expiration of these laws. There is more that must be said, however, since all this raises the question of how God-given laws can be changed or abrogated.

Here the statement of the Belgic Confession 25 is important: “We believe that the ceremonies and figures of the law ceased at the coming of Christ, and that all the shadows are accomplished; so that the use of them must be abolished amongst Christians; yet the truth and substance of them remain with us in Jesus Christ, in whom they have their completion.”

This Reformed creed reminds us that there is, and always was, a difference between the precepts of God’s moral law on the one hand and the civil and ceremonial laws on the other. The moral law forbids things that are inherently sinful. Idol worship is always wicked because it is a denial of the great truth that there is no God beside Jehovah. The civil and ceremonial laws, however, were an application of the moral law to Israel’s life in the Old Testament. They command and forbid things that were not in themselves sinful or matters of life and death. There is nothing inherently wrong about eating pork, except that in the Old Testament it was forbidden by God. The example has been used of a fish in its watery environment. God’s law for a fish is that it stay in the water. It is a matter of life and death to the fish to “obey” that law. If I try to make the fish truly free by bringing it up onto dry land, the fish dies. So it is with the precepts of the moral law. They are life and death to me. Outside of them are bondage and death; within are liberty and life.

The addition of the civil and ceremonial laws to God’s people in Moses’ day was something like taking that fish out of the lake in which it lived and putting it in an aquarium. Then it is under another law which is much more restrictive, but it is not a matter of life and death, nor something which cannot be changed in the future.

The civil and ceremonial laws, different from the precepts of the moral law, were tools by which God taught Israel the fundamental and unchangeable principles of the moral law, just as a father might use a rule about not riding one’s bicycle on the Lord’s day to teach his children that the Lord’s day is different. There is, of course, nothing wrong in itself about riding a bicycle on the Lord’s day. Indeed, if that is the only way to get to church, it ought to be done, but the rule may nevertheless be useful until such a time as a child learns that the day belongs to the Lord in a special way, at which time the rule should expire.

That the civil and ceremonial laws were used to teach Israel is clear from passages like Leviticus 10:9-11 and 11:45-47, where various civil and ceremonial laws are described as teaching the difference between holy and unholy. They do not stand on the same level as the moral law.

We use the example of parental rules deliberately. In Galatians 4:1-7, the apostle Paul reminds us that the church of the Old Testament (Acts 7:38) was in its childhood and was, therefore, under a kind of bondage to parental rules that were used by God in the same way we make our rules, not all of them matters of sin and righteousness, to teach our children. Through the coming of Christ and His Spirit, Galatians tells us that the church entered its adulthood and now enjoys “the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” (Gal. 5:1), liberty from the “bondage” of those Old Testament rules but also the liberty of spiritual maturity, a maturity which has learned the grace of God in Christ and obeys not just for the command’s sake, but out of love and no longer needing the endless rules of childhood.

That principle is applied to us in Galatians 5:1. We must stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and not be entangled again in a yoke of bondage, that is, in bondage to all those Old Testament civil and ceremonial laws. But we must also not confuse liberty with licence (13), as though our freedom in Christ means that we may live as we please without regard for God’s moral law. Freedom is always within the bounds of the moral law, as the example of a fish, used above, reminds us. All this discussion is useless unless we, as New Testament Christians, practise fervently our liberty in Christ, serving God faithfully out of love and gratitude for what the Lord Jesus has done in saving us.

There is one more thing I wish to address: the statement of Belgic Confession 25 that “the truth and substance” of the civil and ceremonial laws remain with us in Jesus Christ. The Confession applies this by saying: “we still use the testimonies taken out of the law and the prophets, to confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel, and to regulate our life in all honesty to the glory of God, according to his will.” This needs explanation in the next issue of the News, DV. Rev. Ron Hanko

Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena, BT43 5DR • Lord’s Day services at 11 am & 6 pm
Website: https://cprc.co.uk/ • Live broadcast: cprc.co.uk/live-streaming/
Pastor: Angus Stewart, 7 Lislunnan Road, Kells, N. Ireland, BT42 3NR • (028) 25 891851  
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Covenant Reformed News - July 2024

Covenant Reformed News
July 2024 • Volume XX, Issue 3


 

Nehemiah’s Secret Night Ride

The details of Nehemiah’s night ride around the outside of Jerusalem’s perimeter walls in Nehemiah 2 ought to be understood in light of the governor’s appropriate and good desire for secrecy.

What did Nehemiah do in Jerusalem during the first “three days” after his arrival (11)? Doubtless, he rested after his long journey from the east, he got settled into his new accommodation, and he familiarised himself with the city and its people. He also hoped that, with this passage of time, everyone would stop watching him so closely.

In verse 12, Nehemiah writes, “neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem.” People knew that he had been appointed governor over Judah but they did not know that his special task was to rebuild its defensive walls. Nehemiah understood that it was not yet time to tell them about this.

Also in the interests of keeping it quiet, Nehemiah only brought “some few men with” him on his night ride (12), just enough for protection. None of the governor’s associates rode on a (potentially noisy) beast (12). Some suggest that Nehemiah’s animal was a donkey rather than a horse, reckoning that the former is easier to keep quiet.

Probably Nehemiah was staying near the valley gate, where he began and finished his night ride (13, 15). That way he would not have to risk detection by bringing his beast and party through a larger section of the city before and after his night ride.

The governor’s efforts at secrecy were successful. His night ride was not detected. There were no leakers in his small party.

Even after his night ride, Nehemiah did not immediately tell people what he had been up to and what his plans were: “the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work” (16). He used this time to think further about what he had seen regarding the walls and to plan the next stage in his programme.

There is an evil, shameful secrecy with wicked deeds being deliberately committed at night, such as robbery and adultery (Job 24:14-17). Nehemiah 2 speaks of a lawful and wise secrecy, not a sinful secrecy, as with duplicity or in a corrupt “cover up.”

Is there anything that Christians can learn from this? Our English word “secrecy” perhaps has too many negative connotations, so it is probably better to think of (a fitting) “confidentiality” or “discretion” (Prov. 1:4; 2:11; 3:21; 5:2).

Here are some general points. Believers and especially church office-bearers need to preserve (proper) confidentiality and not to breach trust through garrulity or indiscretion. There are certain things that particularly ought to be kept from the enemies of Christ (e.g., Josh. 2:1; Judg. 16:16-21). Sometimes there are good things that we do that ought not be trumpeted abroad, including charitable giving, prayer and fasting (Matt. 6:1-18). In some cases when church leaders are looking into matters in order to formulate a godly, biblical response, confidentiality should be preserved in the meantime—such was the case with Nehemiah’s secret night ride! Rev. Stewart

 

The Civil and Ceremonial Laws (1)

Our question for this issue of the News concerns the Old Testament civil and ceremonial laws: “Is it true that the Lord Jesus teaches in Matthew 5:17-19 that all the laws of Moses, including the ceremonial and civil laws, are binding and must be ‘fulfilled’ by believers in the New Testament age?”

Generally speaking, the ceremonial laws are those laws of the Old Testament that have to do with Israel’s religious life: the priesthood, the sacrifices, the temple, the feasts, etc. The civil laws are those that have to do with its every-day life: food, clothing, diseases, marriage, work, crime, punishment and Israel’s relations to other nations. The latter are sometimes referred to as “judicial” laws but that term, in the opinion of this writer, is inadequate, since they do not all have to do with judicial matters. Nevertheless, the terms judicial and civil are used more or less interchangeably in the theological literature. The Ten Commandments and all the laws associated with them are usually referred to as God’s moral law.

The question is whether any or all of these laws are still binding on New Testament Christians, as some believe and as Matthew 5:17-19 might seem to teach. Matthew 5:17-19 reads, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Those who are familiar with the Westminster Standards and the Three Forms of Unity will know that neither of these groups of Reformed creeds recognize the civil and ceremonial laws as being binding on New Testament believers. In chapter 19, “Of the Law of God,” the Westminster Confession teaches,

3. Besides this law, commonly called moral, God was pleased to give to the people of Israel, as a church under age, ceremonial laws containing several typical ordinances; partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, his graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits (Heb. 9; 10:1; Gal. 4:1-3; Col. 2:17); and partly holding forth divers instructions of moral duties (I Cor. 5:7; II Cor. 6:17; Jude 23). All which ceremonial laws are now abrogated under the New Testament (Col. 2:14, 16-17; Dan. 9:27; Eph. 2:15-16).
4. To them also, as a body politick, he gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the state of that people, not obliging any other now, further than the general equity thereof may require (Ex. 21; 22:1-29; Gen. 49:10; I Pet. 2:13-14; Matt. 5:17, 38-39; I Cor. 9:8-10).

Article 25 of the Belgic Confession is entitled, “The Abolishing of the Ceremonial Law.” It makes no distinction between civil and ceremonial laws: “We believe that the ceremonies and figures of the law ceased at the coming of Christ, and that all the shadows are accomplished; so that the use of them must be abolished amongst Christians; yet the truth and substance of them remain with us in Jesus Christ, in whom they have their completion. In the meantime we still use the testimonies taken out of the law and the prophets, to confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel, and to regulate our life in all honesty to the glory of God, according to His will.” Both the Reformed and the Presbyterian traditions, therefore, view these laws as non-binding. The Westminster Confession uses the words “abrogated” in relation to the ceremonial laws and the word “expired” in relation to the civil or judicial laws. The Belgic Confession uses the word “abolished,” and refers to these laws as “figures” and “shadows” that have “ceased” and “are accomplished” or fulfilled.

It is not the subject of this article but we believe that Christians are obligated to obey God’s moral law, not as a way of salvation but out of thankfulness for their salvation in Christ: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Jesus cannot be saying of these moral laws, “I am not come to destroy, but to bring them to an end” (cf. Matt. 5:17). He would then be contradicting Himself.

The word “fulfil,” however, is not a good word to use to describe the Christian’s obedience to the law. Matthew 5:17-19 is not talking about Christians fulfilling the law by obeying it but about Christ as the One who fulfils the whole law. Christians cannot fulfil the law. Only Christ could do that, and He did it by a sinless life of perfect obedience and by His sacrificial death on the cross. Fulfilled does not mean, though, that the moral law is abolished and done away as many teach, i.e., that Christians only obey what they call “the law of Christ” but not the Ten Commandments.

The question remains, however, whether Christians are also bound to obey some or all of the civil and ceremonial laws. This issue has been important for quite some time. Those who call themselves “Theonomists” or “Christian Reconstructionists” have been teaching that the civil laws must not only be obeyed by God’s children but must also become the foundation of a Christian postmillennial civil society. Society must be “reconstructed” not only on the basis of God’s moral law but even on the foundation of Old Testament civil law, which remains binding. These laws are to be imposed even on those who do not believe in the Son of God.

Generally, they believe that any law which is not explicitly abrogated in the New Testament is still in effect for Christians. One or another of them will insist that men must have beards, that Christians must not eat pork, that a house with a flat roof must have a parapet around it (Deut. 22:8) and, by extension, a swimming pool must be fenced, and so on and on. They disagree among themselves as to which laws are binding and how they apply to us in the New Testament, and the influence of the movement has declined. But the requirement of Old Testament civil law for the construction of a Christian society and for Christian dominion is still around.

This imposition of the civil laws on Christians and on others as the basis of a reconstructed Christian society is a new legalism insisted on by these modern Judaizers. It is a denial of everything Scripture says about salvation by grace alone.

We follow the teaching of the Westminster Confession and the Belgic Confession, and believe and teach that the civil and ceremonial laws are not binding on New Testament Christians. As the Belgic Confession says, they have their “completion” in Christ.

In the case of the ceremonial laws, this completion means that Jesus and those who are in Him have become all that those laws required. He is the high priest, the temple or tabernacle, the sacrifice and the altar. His prayers are the incense; His flesh the veil. He is the mercy seat, the budding rod, the manna, the passover lamb, the lamb of atonement and the scapegoat. The rest were only ever shadows and figures that vanished in the presence of the reality: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ” (Col. 2:16-17). To attempt to resurrect these is not only to prefer the shadow to the reality but is to deny Christ’s saving work.

Those ceremonial laws were given, therefore, to point the Old Testament people of God to Jesus. To cling to these things now would be to do what the Pharisees did, when, having rejected and despised the true passover lamb, they went to eat lambs whose blood could not save them from the angel of death and whose flesh was no more than meat between their teeth. The use of these ceremonies “must be abolished amongst Christians” (Belgic Confession 25).

Thus few, outside so-called Messianic Jews and the Hebrew Roots movement, advocate the observance of the ceremonial laws. There have been charges that Rousas J. Rushdoony, the founder of the Christian Reconstruction movement, advocated animal sacrifices but his son, Mark, denies that his father ever taught such a thing. Generally, the focus of the Theonomists and Christian Reconstructionists has been on the civil law as a basis for a Christian civilization. That will be the subject of the next article, DV.

One thing more, however. That the Jews cleaved to things that were only shadows is a reminder to us of how easy it is to cling to observances, rituals and earthly things, and so miss the necessity of believing in Christ Himself. We must always remember Hebrews 10:1: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.” Instead, we must “see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (2:9). Rev. Ron Hanko

Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena, BT43 5DR • Lord’s Day services at 11 am & 6 pm
Website: https://cprc.co.uk/ • Live broadcast: cprc.co.uk/live-streaming/
Pastor: Angus Stewart, 7 Lislunnan Road, Kells, N. Ireland, BT42 3NR • (028) 25 891851  
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Covenant Reformed News - June 2024

Covenant Reformed News
June 2024 • Volume XX, Issue 2


 

Nehemiah’s Night Ride

The Bible records several instances of people riding on animals, such as Abraham’s old servant bringing Rebekah on a camel as a bride for Isaac (Gen. 24), Solomon mounted on David’s mule on his way out of Jerusalem to his coronation by the Gihon spring (I Kings 1) and Christ’s triumphal entry into the holy city upon a colt, the foal of an ass, on Palm Sunday (Zech. 9:9; John 12:12-16).

However, only Nehemiah’s famous journey on a “beast” (Neh. 2:12, 14) around Jerusalem’s decaying walls took place at “night” (12, 13, 15). In order for the governor and his mount to see sufficiently, it must have been a relatively clear night and it may well have been nearer to a full moon than to a new moon.

Nehemiah’s journey started at the valley gate (13) on the west side of fifth-century BC Jerusalem and so slightly nearer the city’s southern end than its northern end. Since he “went out” by that gate (13), the governor rode around the outside of the perimeter walls, not the inside, before reentering by the valley gate (15).

What direction did he take? Nehemiah 2 mentions specifically three different gates or ports in this order: the valley gate (13), the dung gate (13) and the fountain gate (14). With the help of any decent Bible atlas, one can easily see that Nehemiah journeyed anticlockwise or counterclockwise.

But what was the purpose of his night ride? To answer this, we need only recall that Nehemiah’s central calling at this time was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Thus he was checking out their condition to see what needed to be done. Back in the citadel of Susa far to the east, Nehemiah had heard of their disrepair from his brother, Hanani, and some men of Judah (1:2-3). Especially now that he is in Jerusalem, the governor could have commissioned others to examine the perimeter wall and its gates, but he did not. Nehemiah needed to see it for himself so that he would possess first-hand knowledge.

How far did Nehemiah ride? Did he partially circumnavigate Jerusalem’s walls or did he make a full circuit? Given the governor’s purpose, the answer is the latter.

What were the results of his viewing or inspection (2:13, 15)? Nehemiah saw personally that Jerusalem’s defensive wall was mostly rubble. Charred wood was found where once sturdy gates had hung. The governor tells us that it was especially bad near the southern end of the western wall, for fallen masonry meant that “there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass” (14).

Not only did Nehemiah need personal knowledge of the condition of Jerusalem’s walls but he also needed to keep others from knowing what he was doing (both the Jews and their enemies), at least, for a time. Nehemiah 2 lays great emphasis on Nehemiah’s secrecy. The governor’s riding at “night” (12, 13, 15)—at a time when people were sleeping: “I arose in the night” (12)—was so that people would not see what he was doing and that it was he. Next time, DV, we will consider further Nehemiah’s “secrecy,” and its significance then and now. Rev. A. Stewart

To read the rest, see the attached pdf, which includes Rev. R. Hanko's further treatment of "Who Is the Man of Romans 7?"

Or visit the CPRC website and find it here.

 
 
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Covenant Reformed News - April 2024

Covenant Reformed News
April 2024  •  Volume XIX, Issue 24


 

The Truth Is According to Godliness (3)

One way of underscoring the fact that “the truth ... is after godliness” (Titus 1:1) is to show that false teaching is according to ungodliness. According to the unbelieving theory of evolutionism, what is abortion or the murder of unborn babies? Simply the killing of the helpless by stronger, smarter adults—an instance of “the survival of the fittest”! If humans have evolved from lower life forms, then why are there not superior races and inferior races, as the Nazis evilly claimed? If we are merely animals, as per evolutionism, what is wrong with euthanasia, the deliberate ending of someone’s life in order to relieve him or her of suffering? After all, we do this with dogs and horses.

Denying that the living God made only two genders, male and female (Gen. 1:27; 5:2; Mark 10:6), some people suffer from the inner confusion, expensive surgeries, terrible pain and unavoidable conflicts of transgenderism.

Many hold that marriage is only a man-made institution of convenience, and not a lifelong union between one man and one woman (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:3-12; I Cor. 7). This has led to divorce for practically any reason (Matt. 5:32), remarriage while one’s spouse is living (Luke 16:18), “homosexual marriage” (Rom. 1:26-27), etc.

The body is unimportant and only the mind counts, according to various forms of Greek philosophy and other ideologies. Therefore, fornication is harmless, as some carnally thought in the first century (I Cor. 6:9-20) and as many reckon in our own day.

According to the secular mind, civil government is not ordained by God (Rom. 13:1-7; I Pet. 2:13-17; Titus 3:1-2) but only a human construct. So, if you do not like the state, why not rebel against it?

Psalm 10 describes the wicked behaviour of a murderer: “He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net” (9). What is such a man’s view of God? He denies Jehovah’s omniscience and justice: “He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it ... Thou wilt not require it” (11, 13).

“My lord delayeth his coming,” thinks the “evil servant” (Matt. 24:48). So what does he do? He starts “to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken” (49). His loose eschatological ideas lead to his vicious behaviour and eternal destruction, for “The lord of that servant ... shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (50-51).

I recall a professing Christian who foolishly believed the weak arguments against the Bible made by an unbelieving university lecturer. What effect did it have on that young man? Soon he was partying and getting drunk like most of the other students.

The apostle to the Gentiles argues that, if there is no future bodily resurrection, there is little point in enduring persecution for Jesus Christ: “If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not?” (I Cor. 15:32). Why not be a hedonist: “let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die” (32)? Paul warns against fellowship with unbelievers and following their corrupt notions, for false teaching is according to ungodliness: “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (33).

One can cite many examples demonstrating, on the other hand, that orthodox doctrine is according to godliness. Jesus’ resurrection on the first day of the week leads us to rest from our physical labours and enjoy the public worship of Almighty God in a faithful congregation on the Lord’s day. Since Scripture teaches that the church is the bride of Christ chosen before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4) and destined for the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9), we must seek her welfare.

Regarding the final assize, II Corinthians 5 states, “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (10). Belief of this truth issues in faithful witnessing: “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (11).

Just think of our Saviour: His lowliness, unsearchable wisdom, amazing teaching, perfect obedience and substitutionary sufferings. What a payment He made to the justice of God for our sins! What wonders He achieves, including our redemption, justification, sanctification and glorification! This evokes thankfulness, good works and prayer, as the Heidelberg Catechism explains. True doctrine is according to godliness!

It is a mark of the false gospel and false churches that they accuse the biblical gospel of the grace of God, preached by the true church, of leading to ungodliness. Roman Catholicism attacks the truth of justification (and assurance of salvation) by faith alone in Christ alone as engendering loose living and decadence. In ungodly Rome’s anti-Christian reasoning, man must work to earn his own righteousness before God and the certainty of salvation is not possible (apart from direct, divine revelation) or desirable.

Like Romanism, Arminianism slanders total depravity, unconditional election and reprobation, particular atonement, irresistible grace and the perseverance of the saints, as if they were an “opiate” to put people asleep or render men “carnally secure,” to quote the “Conclusion” of the Canons of Dordt. Arminianism claims that only the (false) doctrine of man’s free will can deliver him from spiritual sloth! Yet the apostle Paul exclaimed, “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (I Cor. 15:10)! Rev. Stewart

 

David, Amasa and Joab

One of our readers writes, “It seems strange that David should make Amasa, recently head of the rebel army of Absalom, his commander in chief (II Sam. 19-20).”

David, Amasa, Joab and Absalom were all related. Amasa, Joab and Absalom, David’s son, were cousins; Amasa and Joab were sons of David’s sisters (II Sam. 17:25; I Chron. 2:16-17). Amasa and Joab, therefore, were both nephews of King David. Amasa had supported Absalom and was the commander of his forces in his rebellion against David (II Sam. 17:25). Joab was one of David’s commanders in the battle against Absalom and the one who saw to it that Absalom was killed (18:1-17). David, who had told Joab to spare Absalom, was angry with him for having Absalom killed. So he fired Joab, making Amasa commander in his place (19:13).

David’s appointment of Amasa does seem strange. Some believe that David was attempting to reunite the people by appointing Amasa, the commander of the rebel army, but, because this happened immediately after the battle in which Absalom was killed, it is more likely that Amasa was appointed to spite Joab (19:13). Joab, always jealous for his own prestige and position, soon murdered Amasa, using as his excuse Amasa’s sluggishness in mustering the army against another rebel, Sheba the son of Bichri (20:1-13).

Of Amasa we know little. David seems to have appointed him not only to spite Joab but also because he was his nephew (17:25). Though captain, first under Absalom and then under David, he does not seem to have been very competent as a military leader. Not only did he lose the battle as Absalom’s commander, but he was tardy in mustering the men of Judah against Sheba (20:4-5) and naively did not take heed to the murderous sword of crafty Joab (8-10). At that point, David had, in effect, reappointed Joab and Joab’s brother, Abishai, but Joab murdered Amasa anyway (6-10).

Joab, though fiercely loyal to David and unafraid of telling him when he was wrong (e.g., 19:1-8), seems to have been an evil man. He not only murdered Amasa but had previously murdered Abner, who had commanded the armies of the other tribes against David, before David became king of all Israel. Abner, Saul’s cousin (I Sam. 14:50), had been Saul’s general and, when Saul died, he had supported Saul’s son, Ishbosheth (II Sam. 2). Abner abandoned Ishbosheth after a dispute about one of Saul’s concubines and came over to David, but Joab, to avenge his brother, Asahel, who had been killed in a fair fight by Abner, and perhaps out distrust, murdered Abner (II Sam. 3).

David seemed unable to handle Joab but, before he died, he gave instructions to Solomon to deal with Joab (I Kings 2:5-6). Benaiah, under Solomon’s orders, dispatched Joab (28-34), after he supported Solomon’s rival and half-brother, Adonijah.

However, it is not Amasa or Joab but David who is the main character in this history. David, born around 1040 BC, would have been in his 60s at the time of Absalom’s rebellion and Amasa’s murder, with only a few years left before his death at 70 years of age.

The disorder of David’s latter reign included not only Absalom’s rebellion and death, and the rebellion under Sheba the son of Bichri, but near civil war between Judah and the rest of Israel (II Sam. 19:40-43). Just before David died, another son, Adonijah, tried to take the throne, and was supported by Joab and Abiathar the priest (I Kings 1). This was partly David’s own fault for not making it sufficiently clear that Solomon was his heir. It was obvious at this time that David was failing. He was nearly killed in a battle with the Philistines (II Sam. 21:15-17) and needed a concubine to keep him warm (I Kings 1:1-4). It may also have been during this time that David took a census of the people, angering God who then slew 70,000 men with a plague (II Sam. 24).

This disorder was not only the result of David’s age and weakness, but was God’s judgment on him and his house for his sin with Bathsheba, whose husband he had murdered (II Sam. 11). God had forgiven David (II Sam. 12:13; Ps. 32; 51), but David and his family suffered the consequences of his sin. God said to David through Nathan the prophet, “I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; And I ... gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house” (II Sam. 12:7-11).

David, the greatest of Israel’s kings, was a man after God’s heart (I Sam. 13:14) and a picture of Christ as the Captain of our salvation who delivers us from our enemies. The two are so closely identified in the Psalms that it is often difficult to say, “This is David” or “This is Christ.” Psalm 45 is an example of the intimate relationship between David and Christ as warrior kings. David the shepherd speaks of Christ the Good Shepherd in Psalm 23. In Psalms 41:9 and 55:12-14, David complains of Ahithophel’s betrayal (II Sam. 15-17), but one can hear Christ speaking through David of Judas and his betrayal.

Nevertheless, David was only a shadow of Christ and, though in some ways he pictured the might and victories of Christ as king, his failures pointed to the need for a better king than himself. The disorder in which his reign ended showed that no mere man could bring the deliverance Jesus brings by His great victory over sin, that is, everlasting righteousness and peace. Psalm 72 and Isaiah 11 speak of Christ as that greatest of all kings, who alone has the victory over our greatest enemies, and who establishes a kingdom that will endure when sun and moon have ceased to shine.

Unlike David, Jesus needed no Joab or Amasa to fight His battles. He needed no swords or spears, like the weapon with which Joab killed Amasa. He fought His battle alone, and fought it by surrendering Himself to His enemies and letting them do their worst, until they destroyed themselves in crucifying Him. He brought life out of death and eternal blessedness out of the misery of sin. That is the gospel of David’s failures as king, a message that David himself acknowledged, when he wrote, “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand” (Ps. 110:1). Rev. Ron Hanko

Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena, BT43 5DR • Lord’s Day services at 11 am & 6 pm
Website: https://cprc.co.uk/ • Live broadcast: cprc.co.uk/live-streaming/
Pastor: Angus Stewart, 7 Lislunnan Road, Kells, N. Ireland, BT42 3NR • (028) 25 891851  
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Covenant Reformed News - March 2024

Covenant Reformed News
March 2024  •  Volume XIX, Issue 23


 

The Truth Is According to Godliness (2)

Why is the truth—and why must the truth be—according to godliness? Because the Scriptures are the Word of the holy Triune God! Is not Jehovah the Father of truth and the Father who sanctifies us (Jude 1)? Is not the only begotten and incarnate Son “the truth” (John 14:6)? Is He not “the mystery of godliness” as “God ... manifest in the flesh” (I Tim. 3:16)? Is not the Third Person of the Godhead “the Spirit of truth” (John 16:13) and the Spirit of sanctification (II Thess. 2:13; I Pet. 1:2)?

What does the Bible say about itself in II Timothy 3:16-17? Here we have the inspiration of Holy Writ: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” Here we have the benefit of the Bible for us, since it is “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Here we have the goal of Scripture in us: “that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” Clearly, “the truth ... is after godliness” (Titus 1:1)!

Is not the written Word of God the divinely appointed means of sanctification? “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). This was Jesus Christ’s prayer just hours before His atoning cross. The truth is according to godliness!

Does not the Word bring spiritual life to God’s people? Our Saviour declared, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). If our Lord’s words bring spiritual life to believers, then the truth must be according to godliness.

A similar argument is based on words found repeatedly in the pastoral epistles of I & II Timothy and Titus: “sound doctrine,” literally “health-giving doctrine” (I Tim. 1:10; II Tim. 4:3; Titus 1:9; 2:1). For divine teaching to give spiritual health to believers, the doctrine must be according to godliness. If the truth itself does not accord with, befit and so lead to godliness, what else can or does?

This “truth” (Titus 1:1) is also called “the common faith” (4), common to Paul and Titus, as well as the catholic or universal church that is predestinated by God the Father, redeemed by God the Son and regenerated by God the Spirit. The “truth” is also called “the faith of God’s elect” (1), that which all Jehovah’s chosen ones believe, which He uses to save and sanctify His people, for “the truth ... is after godliness” (1). God gives us His truth to read, to hear preached, to study, to pray over, to meditate upon and to embody. The more we feed upon the Word, the more we will believe and experience that it is according to godliness! Rev. Stewart

______________________________________

Matthew Henry on Titus 1:1: “Divine faith rests not on fallible reasonings and probable opinions, but on the infallible word, the truth itself, which is after godliness, of a godly nature and tendency, pure, and purifying the heart of the believer ... All gospel truth is after godliness, teaching and nourishing reverence and fear of God, and obedience to him; it is truth not only to be known, but acknowledged; it must be held forth in word and practice (Phil. 2:15-16) ... To bring to this knowledge and faith, and to the acknowledging and professing of the truth which is after godliness, is the great end of the gospel ministry ...”

 

Four Rules for the Gentiles

We have another interesting and important question for this issue of the News. “Why did the leadership (James, etc.) of the church require the four ‘essentials’ that are listed in each of these three verses: Acts 15:20, 29 and 21:25?”

Acts 13-14 tells the story of Paul’s first missionary trip. He and Barnabas had been gone about a year preaching in different cities of Cyprus and in central Asia Minor or Turkey. Finished, they returned to Antioch in Syria, their home church, and “there they abode long time with the disciples” (14:28).

Some Judaizers from Judea headed north and began to teach in Antioch that circumcision was necessary for salvation (15:1). Paul and Barnabas opposed them and their teaching, and were sent to Jerusalem with others to report to the church there (2-4). The same dispute about circumcision also arose in Jerusalem about that time, and the matter was submitted to the judgment of a council of apostles and elders (5), as well as prophets, such as James, our Lord’s half-brother and the author of a canonical epistle, Judas and Silas (32), and Agabus (11:27-28).

After considerable debate, the counsel of Peter, Paul, Barnabas and James was followed, so it was decided that the Gentiles did not need to be circumcised. The debate over this issue did not end with the council. It continued to trouble the churches and is the subject of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, where he says, “Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith” (5:2-5). The debate about circumcision was not over non-essentials but over the gospel itself.

Having established at the council the truth that circumcision is not necessary and the gospel that justification is by faith alone without works, the council decided on four rules, and it commissioned Paul and Barnabas to report these decisions and rules to the Gentile churches (Acts 15:22-26). The rules they set are the four “essentials” to which our reader refers.

The four essentials or rules are “that they [i.e., the Gentiles] abstain [1] from pollutions of idols, and [2] from fornication, and [3] from things strangled, and [4] from blood” (20) or, in a different order, “[1] from meats offered to idols, and [2] from blood, and [3] from things strangled, and [4] from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well” (29). These four things, as our reader notes, were mentioned again when Paul returned to Jerusalem from his third and last missionary trip (21:25).

Pollutions of idols in Acts 15:20 is the same as “meats offered to idols” in verse 29. Fornication refers to any sexual sin but probably refers here to the immorality that was part of the worship of idols. Things strangled would be meat of birds or animals that had been killed by strangling and in which the blood was still present. Blood refers to the eating of blood as in blood sausage and such like.

Fornication is always wrong, a violation of the seventh commandment, but the other things are not in themselves evil, though an argument can be made against the eating of blood, since that prohibition was given along with the death penalty to Noah after the flood. Certainly the eating of meats sacrificed to idols was not in itself wrong but forbidden only if it was an offense to others. Paul makes the point in I Corinthians 8 that, even if offered to idols, meat is only meat and has no power to save or damn anyone, an important principle of Christian liberty. Paul tells the Christians in Corinth to avoid offense but also tells them to ask no questions about the meat they purchased in the “shambles,” the meat markets of the day, much of which came from the pagan temples.

Though fornication is listed among the things the Gentiles were to avoid, the decision of the Jerusalem Council emphasized avoiding fornication and the other things because they were especially offensive to the Jews. The Jews regarded the eating of meat from beasts that had been strangled, meat with the blood, as a violation not only of the laws of Moses (Lev. 17:13) but of the precepts God had given Noah after the flood (Gen. 9:4). They also regarded the eating of blood as abhorrent, following the teaching of Leviticus 17:10-14. It was the life of the beast eaten or sacrificed and belonged to God as an atonement for sin. Idolatry and its associated practices were hated by them as well.

The history of the Maccabees, though not inspired or part of sacred history, is important background that illustrates the importance of these rules of the Jerusalem Council in the relationship between the Jewish and Gentile Christians. The four hundred years between Malachi and Christ include the subjugation of the Israelites by the Syrian Seleucid kings, with Antiochus Epiphanes IV being the worst of them. During their dominion, they defiled that which was to the Jews the holiest place of all.

The Seleucid army had set up an idol, probably a bust of Antiochus Epiphanes IV, in the temple, offered swine’s flesh on the altar of burnt offering, forcing the Jews to participate in these heathen rites and to eat the flesh of those idol sacrifices (168 BC). They had introduced temple prostitution into the courts of the temple as well and the temple became a place for drunken orgies dedicated to the worst of the Greek gods. It was no wonder that the things forbidden by the Jerusalem Council would have been particularly offensive to the Jews. The history of Antiochus Epiphanes IV was not long past.

During that same period, the apostasy of many Jews, under the influence of Greek culture and philosophy, would have been remembered by the Christian Jews of Paul’s day with detestation. History speaks of those apostate Jews sporting naked in the gymnasiums, and associating with the Greeks in the sacrifices and pagan worship that often accompanied the Hellenistic infatuation with sports and games. The two apocryphal books of I and II Maccabees, and Daniel 11:31-39 tell some of this history.

This is the best explanation of the rather unusual set of injunctions established by the Jerusalem elders and apostles. The main thing was avoiding giving offense to the Jewish community and that fits the context as well. Paul and Silas had just returned from establishing new churches of largely Gentiles converts. The controversy with the Judaizers over circumcision was raging. It had to be established that circumcision was not necessary for salvation, but it was also needful that the Jews be shown that the rumours about Paul and the Gentile churches were not true. Those rumours are mentioned in Acts 21:20-21: “Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law: And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.” The prohibitions of the Jerusalem Council are then mentioned in Acts 21:25.

All of this is a reminder to us of the important principle, that we must avoid offense, not only in matters of sin but even in things indifferent, things that are not in themselves right or wrong. This principle is established in I Corinthians 8 not only but also in Romans 14. Even in things indifferent, we can cause another to sin, and must be very careful not to do that out of love for a brother. As Paul puts it in I Corinthians 8:13, “Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.”

Avoiding offense: that was the issue in Acts 15:20. That may seem like a small thing, but is part of manifesting the love of our heavenly Father to others and showing that we have that love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). Offense cannot sometimes be avoided but it should then be what Paul calls the offense of the cross (Gal. 5:11), the offense that sinful hearts take at the Word of God. It should not be anything that can be avoided, anything personal. Rev. Ron Hanko

______________________________________
 

John Calvin: “In sum, if love be the bond of perfection and end of the law; if God command that we study to preserve mutual unity among ourselves, and that every man serve his neighbour to edify, no man is so ignorant which doth not see that that is contained in the word of God which the apostles command in this place, only they apply a general rule to their time. Furthermore, let us remember that which I said before, that it was a politic law which could not ensnare the conscience, neither bring in any feigned worship of God; which two vices the Scripture condemneth everywhere in men’s traditions” (Comm. on Acts 15:29).

Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena, BT43 5DR • Lord’s Day services at 11 am & 6 pm
Website: https://cprc.co.uk/ • Live broadcast: cprc.co.uk/live-streaming/
Pastor: Angus Stewart, 7 Lislunnan Road, Kells, N. Ireland, BT42 3NR • (028) 25 891851  
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Covenant Reformed News - February 2024

Covenant Reformed News
February 2024  •  Volume XIX, Issue 22


 

The Truth Is According to Godliness (1)

Believer, there are many ways in which the devil attacks your adherence to the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps he seeks to fill you with anger or covetousness or worry, for example, or he tries to suck you into one of the world’s moral (or immoral) crusades.

Another, more subtle, satanic ploy is the notion that all that matters is how you live, and that knowing and believing the truth of God’s Word makes little or no difference to the quality of one’s spiritual life, either your own or anyone else’s.

It is easy to understand how this appeals to our sinful flesh. According to this seductive lie, a catechumen or Sunday school student may conclude, “I do not need to study or memorize biblical material for the next class. It doesn’t do me much good.”

Others think like this: “I’m always tired. Why should I spend time and energy on reading good Reformed books and praying? It seems to make no difference to my life.”

So how is the truth of God’s Word related to practical godliness? Do the doctrines of Scripture oppose or hinder obedience to the Lord? Is biblical teaching utterly irrelevant as regards a holy life, so that there is no correlation between them? Perhaps the faith of the Reformation is of minimal help or limited worth with respect to genuine spirituality? Maybe Scripture’s teaching is merely fairly useful in promoting piety?

But what does the Word of God itself proclaim? Biblical “doctrine … is according to godliness” (I Tim. 6:3) and “the truth … is after godliness” (Titus 1:1)!

What is this saying? Scriptural doctrine accords with, is in keeping with, fits with and corresponds to godliness. Biblical teaching is conducive towards and leads to piety, for this is its natural tendency in God’s believing people by the power of the Spirit.

Not only do all the doctrines of God’s Word fit together harmoniously and reinforce each other. It is also the case that scriptural doctrine fits with and leads to practical piety, for the truth is according to godliness.

Here we need to make an important distinction between God’s truth and those who profess to believe it. Some might object, But what about Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5? They lied about the amount they had gotten for the sale of their land because they sought glory of man. So how was the truth according to godliness for them? The answer is that they were hypocrites and not genuine believers!

What then, some might say, about Peter? He was a true believer, yet he denied Christ three times with oaths and cursings. Yes, but this was a temporary lapse. Later, he repented with bitter tears (Matt. 26:75) and was used by the Lord to “strengthen” the other disciples (Luke 22:32). Thus the truth is still after godliness!

What about times of church divisions? Here the blame lies with false doctrines (not the truth) and sinful behaviour by some people. The lesson to be drawn is not that the truth does not help God’s saints, but that He sovereignly uses heresies to make manifest those who are approved by Him and those who are not (I Cor. 11:19). Thus, no matter how professing Christians or professing churches may behave at certain times, the Holy Spirit declares that “the truth … is after godliness” (Titus 1:1)! Rev. Angus Stewart

 

Total Depravity and Manichaeism

Our question for this issue of the News is very interesting: “Folk who oppose the Reformed faith often claim that total depravity is nothing but a resurrection of the old heresy of Manichaeism. (Interestingly, this was also the charge of the Remonstrants against the doctrines laid out in the Canons of Dordt—see the ‘Conclusion.’) Augustine (354-430) was a Manichaean in his early years, and they claim that his views of the ‘total depravity of man’ are just remnants of Manichaeism that remained in his theology and these eventually became incorporated into the Reformed churches. What exactly is Manichaeism? And what are the clear differences between the Reformed view and that of the former?”

What was Manichaeism? Manichaeism was an ancient heresy, named after its founder, the Persian false prophet, Mani. It flourished from the third to the seventh centuries in the Roman Empire and Augustine was a Manichaean for nine years. Manichaeism was an attempt to combine the world’s religions into one system, incorporating elements of an old Persian religion called Zoroastrianism with Christianity, Gnosticism and Buddhism, with Mani being the great self-proclaimed prophet of this new religion.

Manichaeism was dualistic and fatalistic. It viewed spiritual things as good and material things as evil, but saw the outcome of the struggle between them as uncertain. This was its dualism, good and evil, the material and the spiritual, two independent and equal powers. Its fatalism lay in the teaching that ordinarily the soul of man, which is spiritual and good, is dominated by the body, which is material and evil, leaving a person helpless in the struggle against evil. It was this latter aspect of Manichaeism that attracted the early pre-Christian Augustine, since it meant that he was not responsible for the sins in which he was living.

Those who claim that the doctrine of total depravity is a carry-over from Manichaeism point to that doctrine’s view that man is evil by nature. They say that it is the same as Manichaeism’s view that the body is evil. Such critics also see the doctrine of total depravity as fatalistic, claiming that it destroys all responsibility for sin, just as did the Manichaean view of the evil body as dominant over the good soul in the personal struggle between good and evil. Total depravity leaves a person unable to do good and, therefore, they claim, without responsibility for sin.

Our questioner is right in claiming that the Remonstrants (Arminians) charged the Reformed churches with Manichaeism at the time of the Synod of Dordt. This charge is addressed in the conclusion to the Canons. The Remonstrants said, “That the doctrine of the Reformed churches concerning predestination, and the points annexed to it, by its own genius and necessary tendency, leads off the minds of men from all piety and religion; that it is an opiate administered by the flesh and the devil, and the stronghold of Satan, where he lies in wait for all, and from which he wounds multitudes and mortally strikes through many with the darts both of despair and security; that it makes God the author of sin, unjust, tyrannical, hypocritical; that it is nothing more than interpolated Stoicism, Manicheism, Libertinism, Turcism; that it renders men carnally secure, since they are persuaded by it that nothing can hinder the salvation of the elect, let them live as they please; and, therefore, that they may safely perpetrate every species of the most atrocious crimes; and that, if the reprobate should even perform truly all the works of the saints, their obedience would not in the least contribute to their salvation …”

“Stoicism, Manicheism, Libertinism, Turcism” are all different forms of fatalism, the wicked notion that our actions are predetermined either by some imaginary deity or by our evil nature, so that it makes no difference how we live or act and that we cannot be held responsible for what we do. “Interpolated … Manicheism” is Manichaeism reintroduced in a new guise, the charge levelled by the Arminians against the five points of Calvinism as taught in the Canons of Dordt.

Our focus is on the doctrine of total depravity and the charge that it destroys human responsibility, encourages carnal security and lets men live as they please. These charges are false and the doctrine of total depravity is not interpolated Manichaeism. We, with other Calvinists, hold the doctrine of total depravity because it is biblical, not as some hold-over from Manichaeism.

The scriptural doctrine of total depravity is found in such passages as Genesis 6:5, Psalm 14:2-3, Jeremiah 13:23, John 3:5-6, Romans 3:9-19 and Ephesians 2:1-3. It teaches that “all men are conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath, incapable of saving good, prone to evil, dead in sin, and in bondage thereto, and without the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit they are neither able nor willing to return to God, to reform the depravity of their nature, nor to dispose themselves to reformation” (Canons III/IV:3). This spiritual death and depravity came on all men “for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). The passages show that there is a world of difference between Manichaean dualism and fatalism, and the biblical doctrine of total depravity.

The differences are especially these five.

(1) Manichaeism is dualistic, teaching that evil exists independently and is equally powerful with good, so that the struggle against evil is always uncertain or hopeless. The Bible teaches that, though God is not the author of sin, sin and evil are decreed by Him, as are all things, and are entirely under His sovereign direction and control (Eph. 1:11). In the struggle against evil, therefore, God and His grace will certainly triumph, for He rules it and uses it for His own holy purposes.

(2) Manichaeism has nothing akin to the Bible’s doctrine of man’s fall through disobedience to a divine command (Gen. 3; Rom. 5:12-21). Scripture teaches that man’s depravity, though a matter of his nature, is not part of his original creation, for God created man good and after His own image (Gen. 1:26-27; Ecc. 7:29), with man’s depravity being divine punishment for his disobedience, the death threatened in Genesis 2:16-17 (cf. Eph. 2:1). Man’s depravity, too, is under God’s control.

(3) Manichaeism denies man’s responsibility. God’s Word is clear: Man’s depravity is the result of his own disobedience and for it he is responsible, as he is for his actual sins. His spiritual inability is his own fault. In Psalm 51:1-5, David confesses not only his actual sin, but the fact that he was shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin. Our depravity, then, is not an excuse for sin or an encouragement to live as we please, as the Manichaeans suggested, but something for which we are accountable, and something from which we must be delivered, and can be delivered, only by the grace of God.

(4) According to Manichaeism, its good god took no part in the creation of matter, and so the world and the human body are possessed of evil/darkness. Contra Manichaeism, it is not just man’s physical body that is evil but the whole of man’s nature: soul, spirit, mind, will and body. Nor is the body evil because it is material. Man’s body was created good by God, and in body and soul he is redeemed and delivered when God saves him. The problem is not that man has a body which is inherently bad, but that man, with body and soul, has fallen into sin and needs to be saved. This is the reason why the Son of God assumed our complete human nature, including a body (Heb. 10:5; 2:16-17), that He might deliver us, body and soul, from the dominion of sin.

(5) Given Manichaeism’s dualism, and its false views of man’s creation, body, fall and responsibility, it is not surprising that its doctrine of human deliverance and salvation is totally different from, and opposed to, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Manichaeism teaches that man needs to be delivered from his body and only in that way will he be saved from evil. That has no relation to the teaching of Scripture, but is a pagan and heathen notion. Death is all that is needed for salvation from evil in Manichaeism and there is no need of God or His grace. The Bible teaches that God delivers us from evil through the cross and exaltation of Jesus, and that by grace we experience and receive a complete transformation of our nature, both body and soul, a spiritual rebirth and transformation that is a miraculous work of God known only by faith. We are new creatures in Christ (II Cor. 5:17) and even our lowly bodies will be changed into the likeness of His glorious body (Phil. 3:21).

My depravity is not, therefore, something to which I may appeal as an excuse for my sins, but something which must be confessed as the source of all my evil-doing and my own fault, and against which I must struggle all my life long. Nor is the struggle against evil, as I experience it, hopeless but, turning to the Lord Jesus in faith, I go on unto perfection (Heb. 6:1), trusting that the good work God has begun in me will be finished in the day of Christ (Phil. 1:6). Rev. Ron Hanko

Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena, BT43 5DR • Lord’s Day services at 11 am & 6 pm
Website: https://cprc.co.uk/ • Live broadcast: cprc.co.uk/live-streaming/
Pastor: Angus Stewart, 7 Lislunnan Road, Kells, N. Ireland, BT42 3NR • (028) 25 891851  
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Covenant Reformed News - January 2024

Covenant Reformed News
January 2024  •  Volume XIX, Issue 21


 

The Answer to Nehemiah’s Ejaculatory Prayer

After the question of Artaxerxes, “For what dost thou make request?” Nehemiah famously makes his ejaculatory prayer in the royal palace: “So I prayed to the God of heaven” (Neh. 2:4).

Then, and only then, does the cupbearer present his humble request to the Medo-Persian emperor: “If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it” (5).

Clearly, Nehemiah is not one of those people who sit around cleverly planning projects so that other people do the work and they do nothing. Nehemiah believed in hard work and costly sacrifice first of all for himself. The man who was soon to be appointed as the governor of Judah was certainly not an “armchair general”! This is crucial for all leadership, especially for leadership in the church of Jesus Christ.

Being an office-bearer in a faithful church is not merely or even chiefly about telling other people what they should do. It requires sacrificing one’s own time, increasing one’s own efforts and denying oneself in the advancement of the kingdom of God.

But it is a supremely worthy cause! Remember the labours and hardships of the head of the universal church. Merely thinking of the willing obedience and agonizing sufferings of our Lord Jesus, laying down His life for the salvation of His elect sheep (John 10:11, 15), means that pastors, elders and deacons can hardly think of their service to Him in terms of bossing others around or putting their feet up.

After the emperor approves of Nehemiah’s request, with the queen also being in attendance (Neh. 2:6), the two men begin to work out the details. First, they arrange the length of Nehemiah’s leave of absence (6). His first governorship ended up lasting 12 years (5:14; 13:6) but maybe, in this scene in the royal palace, Nehemiah was given a year or two to build the wall, with Artaxerxes only later granting him an extension or extensions. (Nehemiah also had a second stint as ruler in Jerusalem; 13:6ff.)

Second, letters were written, both for safe conduct and for the main building material that was not available on site in Jerusalem. We note that Nehemiah’s appeal mentions the name of the imperial forester and as many as three projects needing wood: “If it please the king, [1] let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah; and [2] a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber [a] to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and [b] for the wall of the city, and [c] for the house that I shall enter into” (2:7-8).

Here we learn that Nehemiah had formulated a plan. He had not only been praying—closet prayer (1:4-11) and ejaculatory prayer (2:4)—but he had also been preparing. He had thought it all through and he knew what he was about. Thus Nehemiah was not only a man who sought the welfare of the children of Israel at God’s throne of grace, but he was also a godly and capable leader.

Our heavenly Father always had a plan! He answered Nehemiah’s prayers by moving Artaxerxes heart, out of His favour to His faithful servant and church in Jesus Christ, so that “the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me” (8). All of this was the realization of His determinate counsel and gracious will for the salvation of His beloved people (Rom. 8:28; Eph. 1:11).

Not only was there a man among the Jews who sought “the welfare of the children of Israel” (Neh. 2:10), but there is a God in heaven who seeks, and always obtains, the welfare of all His regenerated and adopted children in Jesus Christ. Behold the Saviour in His state of humiliation obtaining our redemption on the cross 2,000 years ago, and behold Him now in His state of exaltation ruling over all things at God’s right hand in heaven. This is all to the glory of the Triune God, and for the wonderful benefit of the catholic or universal church and each faithful local church.

The wonder is, beloved, that He also includes us and our prayers, even our short, silent and spontaneous ejaculatory prayers, in His eternal and gracious purpose in Christ! Rev. Angus Stewart


C. H. Spurgeon on Nehemiah 2:4: “It was a prayer of a remarkable kind. I know it was so, because Nehemiah never forgot that he did pray it. I have prayed hundreds of times, and thousands of times, and not recollected any minute particular afterwards either as to the occasion that prompted or the emotions that excited me; but there are one or two prayers in my life that I never can forget. I have not jotted them down in a diary, but I remember when I prayed, because the time was so special and the prayer was so intense, and the answer to it was so remarkable. Now, Nehemiah’s prayer was never, never erased from his memory; and when these words of history were written down he wrote that down, ‘So I prayed to the God of heaven’ — a little bit of a prayer pushed in edgeways between a question and an answer— a mere fragment of devotion, as it seemed, and yet so important that it is put down in an historical document as a part of the history of the restitution and rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem, and a link in the circumstances which led up to that event of the most important character. Nehemiah felt it to be so, and therefore he makes the record — ‘So I prayed to the God of heaven.’”

Matthew Henry on Nehemiah 2:1-8: “Those that would find favour with kings must secure the favour of the King of kings. He prayed to the God of heaven as infinitely above even this mighty monarch … Wherever we are we have a way open heaven-ward. This will not hinder any business, but further it rather; therefore let no business hinder this, but give rise to it rather.”

 

The Sword: Advice for Christians Today

I wish to encourage members, ministers, elders and deacons in the churches to hold fast to “the faith which was once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) in a day of compromise and lack of love for the truth. I will bring out some spiritual comparisons and parallels from a striking incident in nineteenth-century military history.

During the Crimean War (1853-1856), in which the United Kingdom, France, the Ottoman Empire and Sardinia-Piedmont fought against the Russian Empire, there was an epic cavalry attack in the Battle of Balaclava immortalized in Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (1854). The poem records a stirring exhibition of valour and daring. Yet I will not focus on the battle itself but rather on an incident that took place within it.

At the end of the attack, a British lancer was found dead, killed in the battle. This was not unusual, for the British cavalry suffered very heavy casualties in this charge. Nevertheless, there was something unique about this lancer and his circumstances.

He was found alone with no fellow lancers with him, though his corpse was surrounded by dozens of enemy dead whom he had slain. He had evidently lost his horse, which had probably been shot from under him, and had charged at the nearest enemy position to engage them with his sword.

Now what was it that enabled this lancer to slay so many of the enemy? Was it his greater strength and longer reach than the Russians? Was it that he was armed with a sword and they were not? No, this lancer was as were all in the light brigade: light. He was not tall or muscular. Instead, it was the Russian artillery troops who were big and strong. They had to be in order to lug the heavy artillery pieces around the battlefield. They would have had the longer reach and they too were armed with swords.

On investigation, those who found the dead lancer discovered that on his body were over fifty strike marks made by Russian swords, twenty of which were on his head. Yet they had failed in most cases to draw blood. He was more bruised than cut. In contrast, the enemies had life-ending wounds inflicted upon them. Thus it became apparent that the lancer’s main advantage was that, whereas the enemies’ swords were blunt and ineffective, his sabre was sharp and clinically efficient.

Many times the lancer was told during training, “Your sword is the means of your staying alive and you must let it do its work. Keep your sword sharp and do not rely on your own strength. If you rely on your own strength, your weakness will let you down. Trust your sword!” He would have been taught to sharpen the sword using a whetstone, a leather strop and chamois leather until it was honed to perfection. The scabbard was to protect the sword’s edge, not to protect the user from cutting himself, as it is commonly thought today.

The lancer’s second advantage was the experience of his predecessors written down in a manual detailing how to use the sword skilfully. A sharp sword without the necessary skill to use it is of little use. Our lancer would have been warned not to lean on his own understanding but rather to follow what had been handed down in the manual, reinforced by practice, practice, practice!

We read in Hebrews 4:12 that “the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword.” The comparison here is highly significant. Unlike a physical sword, Scripture is already sharp, as well as being powerful and even living! Let the Word of God do its work! Put your trust in it as Jehovah’s own mighty weapon. However, if you lack the skills to use it, it will be wielded as if it were blunt and ineffective.

Over the years, through assiduous study, tough experience, doctrinal controversies, much prayer and faithful councils, assemblies and synods, something akin to spiritual swordsmanship manuals has been written: the great catechisms, creeds and confessions of the churches! Here the theological professor, pastor, elder, deacon, seminarian and church member learn how to use the sword skilfully.

Those churches which have ignored and forsaken the creeds have forgotten how to wield the sword, so that for them it is now rusty and blunt. In the day of battle, they will be ineffective and will be defeated easily.

I humbly urge all God’s people to remain steadfast, when a great falling away is blatantly obvious in the vast majority of churches in the British Isles and across the world. Do not try to make the blade of “the sword of the Spirit” “smooth” (Eph. 6:17; Isa. 30:10). Maintain the ecumenical and Reformed creeds faithfully. Do not weaken the teaching and training of Christian adults, covenant children or future ministers, but rather be diligent to be even sharper than ever before. Let the sword do its work!

After the charge of the light brigade was over, the surviving Protestants from the island of Ireland held a worship service in a cave to praise their sovereign God. They also recalled a Dutchman, William of Orange, who brought them the liberty to worship free from Roman Catholic tyranny at the Glorious Revolution (1688) and through the Battle of the Boyne (1690) in their homeland.

As Christians, we recall with honour the worthies in Old Testament (cf. Heb. 11) and New Testament days, as well as the great saints whom God has raised up since, like Athanasius, Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Francis Turretin and Herman Hoeksema, to teach and defend the beloved truth of which we witness.

Most importantly, we remember and worship our glorious Saviour who brought spiritual freedom to His beloved people through His atoning sacrifice, the Christ from whose mouth proceeds “a sharp twoedged sword” (Rev. 1:16; cf. Isa. 49:2; Rev. 2:12, 16; 19:15, 21). Remember, “the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (II Tim. 2:19). Elder Brian Crossett

Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena, BT43 5DR • Lord’s Day services at 11 am & 6 pm
Website: https://cprc.co.uk/ • Live broadcast: cprc.co.uk/live-streaming/
Pastor: Angus Stewart, 7 Lislunnan Road, Kells, N. Ireland, BT42 3NR • (028) 25 891851  
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Covenant Reformed News - December 2023

Covenant Reformed News
December 2023  •  Volume XIX, Issue 20


 

The Background of Nehemiah’s Ejaculatory Prayer

We are not to think that Nehemiah’s ejaculatory prayer in the palace (Neh. 2:4) had no background or that it came completely out of the blue. It was preceded by four months (1:1; 2:1) of prayer with fasting (1:4) “day and night” (6). Before his spontaneous, short and silent ejaculatory prayer (2:4), Nehemiah engaged in closet prayers that were deliberate, lengthy and (probably) vocal (1:4-11). These closet prayers were also fervent and persevering—for four months!

In fact, Nehemiah’s conversation with Artaxerxes had even been prayed for earlier that very day! “O Lord, I beseech thee,” the cupbearer cried, “let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man [i.e., the Medo-Persian emperor]” (11).

In other words, Nehemiah did not “wing it,” as the saying is, thinking that an ejaculatory prayer in the palace would do and that he did not need closet prayer. Nor did Nehemiah reckon, “I have already prayed for four months so I do not need ejaculatory prayer.” For Nehemiah, it was both closet prayer (1:4-11) and ejaculatory prayer (2:4). In this too, beloved, Nehemiah shows himself as a man who sought the welfare of God’s people (10) and our worthy example.

The background of Nehemiah’s ejaculatory prayer in the imperial palace, however, goes back even further than the previous four months of prayers. Remember that he asked the men of Judah who had recently returned from Jerusalem about the situation of the Jews there (1:2-3). Why? Because Nehemiah loved God’s church. He was a man who trusted in the covenant God through the coming Messiah, and so knew the forgiveness of sins. As a thankful saint, he was leading a new and upright life.

All of this, of course, was vital as regards his testimony before Artaxerxes. Nehemiah informs us, “Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence” (2:1). This prompted the Medo-Persian emperor’s response: “Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart” (2).

Nehemiah was a man who rejoiced in his Saviour (Ps. 33:1; Phil. 4:4) and realized that “the joy of the Lord [was his] strength” (Neh. 8:10). He manifested “the fruit of the Spirit” namely, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Gal. 5:22-23).

Artaxerxes recognized Nehemiah’s qualities. Otherwise, he would never have asked his cupbearer why his heart was sorrowful (Neh. 2:2). This gave Nehemiah the opportunity to explain: “why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?” (3). Whereupon the emperor asked, “For what dost thou make request?” (4). This led to Nehemiah’s ejaculatory prayer: “So I prayed to the God of heaven” (4), which set up the conversation that resulted in his being commissioned to rebuild Jerusalem’s perimeter walls (5-8), the work with which he is forever associated! Rev. Stewart

 

Jesus’  Weeping

This month’s questions is: “Why did Jesus weep at the grave of Lazarus (John 11:35)? Some say that His tears here teach us not only His humanity, but also that there was a human desire in Jesus for something that was contrary or different to the Father’s will of decree. His Father in heaven had eternally determined this event—and Jesus, being God, would have known this. But He wept. Could not this indicate that He nevertheless compassionately willed, wished or desired that these things be not so? That things would have been otherwise? The humanity or human heart of Christ desiring, willing or wishing something different to the divine determination? Even if it is small? If so, why could this not also imply that He could have elsewhere a different or contrary wish regarding the destiny of the non-elect? A desire or wish that they would be saved?”

Before I answer this question, let me thank all the readers who continue to submit their questions. I am amazed at the number of questions, at their variety and at their quality. I have not had a question that was not worth answering, though I have not yet gotten to all of them.

“Jesus wept.” This is the shortest verse in the Bible, but one of the most profound and heart-breaking. That my Saviour wept at the tomb of Lazarus makes me weep for my sins and for all that He endured on my behalf, unworthy sinner that I am, for death has come into the world as the punishment of sin.

The question is, Why did He weep? Was He weeping for a friend? Weeping over death as the punishment of sin? Was He wishing that Lazarus had not died, though He knew it to be the will of God? Was He weeping for all those who die in unbelief, wishing they could be saved?

There are important theological arguments against the view of Jesus’ weeping presented by our questioner. If His weeping reveals a will or desire contrary to the will of God regarding the death of Lazarus or the destiny of the non-elect, then Christ’s will is not in harmony with the will of God. If He did not mean what He said, “I come to do thy will, O God” (Heb. 10:9), then we can never be sure that what He did do was all the necessary will of God for our salvation.

If weeping Jesus desires the salvation of all and somehow that is also God’s desire, then the God of election is not in harmony with Himself, is not one in His will and desires. Then, in relation to God’s love, we are like a little girl pulling the petals off a daisy and saying, “He loves me … He loves me not.”

Some say that this desire of Jesus is only His humanity showing through. If as God He willed the death of Lazarus, as well as the damnation of the non-elect, while as man He willed otherwise, then the two natures of Christ are not in harmony with each other. Then He is not God come in the flesh, God and man in one divine Person. Then we have two Christs, the old error of Nestorianism. As one Person in two natures, He cannot want one thing as man and something else as God.

Thus the view presented by our questioner either compromises the doctrine of election (one will of God in election and another in God’s revelation of Himself in Christ) or it compromises the doctrine of God’s simplicity, that He is one in all His works and ways, always in perfect harmony with Himself, or it compromises the doctrine of the hypostatic union of Christ’s two natures, that He is God and man united in one Person. These are the devastating theological consequences of that erroneous view.

Those who see in Jesus’ weeping a compassion for all men, perhaps especially for those who are unsaved, claim to magnify His mercy and pity, but they end up doing the opposite. If Christ’s weeping was for those who go lost, then His pity and mercy are no different from, and no more useful than, my own. I need a Saviour whose pity saves, whose mercy lifts me out of my misery, whose compassion delivers, whose tears were shed for my redemption. A saviour whose pity and compassion are helpless is of no more use to me than any other person who sympathizes with me. How shallow and unsatisfactory, then, to see in Jesus’ weeping an unfulfilled desire for the salvation of those whom the Father had not given Him or a helpless pity for the lost.

I need a Saviour who, in perfect harmony with the will of God, not only knows the hour of my death but brings it about in His sovereign government of all things, a Saviour who is ready to come for me in order to receive me to Himself at death (John 14:3). I need a Saviour who is waiting till precisely the divinely appointed moment of my death, just as I am waiting for Him.

There is, however, another side to Jesus’ weeping. His weeping is not just an emotional response to suffering and death, like our weeping at the graveside of a family member. It is not only sorrow over the breaking of earthly bonds and relationships. It is that but not only that. Lazarus was Jesus’ friend, and the thought of Lazarus rotting and stinking in his tomb must have moved Him deeply. Christ knew that He would raise Lazarus, just as we know a departed believer is in heavenly glory waiting the final resurrection, but that does not make death any less horrible.

Also He must have wept at the knowledge that death was the consequence of sin. Who would have realized that more than the Son of God? We are so inured to sin and its horrors that we seldom think of sin at the graveside, but Jesus, the holy Son of God, would have seen that in a way that we can not.

Certainly Christ also wept because the death of Lazarus reminded Him of His own impending death at Calvary. Just as He groaned and sweated blood in the garden of Gethsemane, with knowledge of what His own death would be under the just wrath of God against sin, so He must have wept at the tomb of Lazarus.

Nevertheless, the most important things about Jesus’ tears at the tomb of Lazarus is that they are part of His atoning suffering, every tear more precious than diamonds. Hebrews 5:7-9 tells us this, “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”

Weeping at the tomb of Lazarus, Christ was learning obedience in suffering, the obedience that would bring Him to the horrors of His own death on the cross. That same obedience would bring Him through death to the perfection promised. Thus He brought salvation. His tears, therefore, are described as “strong” or powerful. They accomplished what no other tears would do. “Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow, All for sin could not atone; Thou must save, and Thou alone.”

Instead of the theological speculation and wishful thinking involved in this month’s question, all should understand that, as Christians, we must think biblically (Isa. 8:20). John 11 states three times that Jesus loved Lazarus (3, 5, 36), as both his two sisters (3) and the Jews recognized (36). Out of His love for Lazarus, Christ prayed for him (11:41-42; 17:9) and died for his sins (and those of all His elect) just a few days later (John 13:1; Rom. 5:8; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:2, 25).

John 11 states that Lazarus was Jesus’ “friend” (11). On the night of His arrest, our Lord averred, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” before adding, “Ye are my friends” (John 15:13-14), a term of endearment which includes not only the eleven disciples but also Lazarus, as well as all God’s true children.

In the chapter before the account of Christ’s weeping at the tomb of His beloved friend Lazarus—a sheep if ever there was one!—Jesus declared, “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15). Later He added, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one” (27-30). These words are true not only regarding Christ’s beloved friend Lazarus but also for all who trust in Him alone as the mighty Redeemer.

A saviour who wept helplessly at the tomb of Lazarus is not the Saviour I need. I need One whose tears are strong to save and of atoning value, for nothing else can pay for my sins. Unable even to weep for my sins apart from His saving grace, I find in my Saviour’s tears the power to weep for my sins, the hope of eternal joy and the reason why all my tears will be wiped away in the future. Rev. Ron Hanko

Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena, BT43 5DR • Lord’s Day services at 11 am & 6 pm
Website: https://cprc.co.uk/ • Live broadcast: cprc.co.uk/live-streaming/
Pastor: Angus Stewart, 7 Lislunnan Road, Kells, N. Ireland, BT42 3NR • (028) 25 891851  
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Covenant Reformed News - November 2023

Covenant Reformed News
November 2023  •  Volume XIX, Issue 19


 

Nehemiah’s Ejaculatory Prayer in the Palace

There are various types of prayer, including public prayer, private prayer and fervent prayer (James 5:16-17). In persevering prayer, the believer does not give up, even if, after some time, he or she has not received an answer. Instead, the saint keeps on asking, seeking and knocking. Our Saviour commends this sort of praying many times (e.g., Luke 18:1-8), so let us not give up!

Ejaculatory prayer has especially three features, all of which begin with the letter “s.” First, ejaculatory prayer is spontaneous. This is praying that is informal, unplanned, on the spot. It does not involve bowing one’s head or closing one’s eyes or folding one’s hands or falling to one’s knees. Ejaculatory prayer is offered not at specific times of the day in the closet (Matt. 6:6) but at any time anywhere. Second, ejaculatory prayer is silent. It is not spoken out loud, usually because there are other people around so it would be inappropriate. Third, ejaculatory prayer is short. It is a prayer quickly darted to heaven, a brief petition hurled upwards like a javelin. In fact, the Latin word for a dart or javelin is the source of our English word “ejaculatory.”

The prayer of Nehemiah 2:4 is clearly ejaculatory. First, it is spontaneous. After Artaxerxes asks, “For what dost thou make request?” Nehemiah tells us, “So I prayed to the God of heaven” (4). Second, it is silent. The Medo-Persian emperor did not hear Nehemiah say anything out loud to God (for that would have been weird). Nor did he see any movement of his cupbearer’s lips, unlike Eli who saw Hannah’s lips move in silent prayer (I Sam. 1:12-13). Third, Nehemiah’s prayer was short. Evidently King Artaxerxes did not even notice any pause before Nehemiah responded to his question.

I take it that you, beloved, are not strangers to ejaculatory prayer, that you too speed off brief darts of prayers to your heavenly Father amidst your many daily activities and that you do it often!

Let us consider some very basic points regarding this ejaculatory prayer of Nehemiah, including, first, when he made it. Nehemiah was working, engaged in his gainful employment as an imperial cupbearer. Ejaculatory prayer, unlike closet prayer, is possible while at our jobs, whether we are teaching a class or driving a car, serving customers or trading shares, engaged in computer programming or metalworking, etc.

Second, where was Nehemiah when he offered this ejaculatory prayer? In an imperial palace! If he can dart a prayer to Jehovah from there, so can we, by God’s grace, whether we are at school, in a hospital, at the office, in an aeroplane or at home.

Third, before whom did Nehemiah make this ejaculatory prayer? In the presence of an idolater who was probably the most powerful man on the planet! Yet, even then, who was this earthly monarch compared to the sovereign ruler over all! “Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven” (Neh. 2:4). We too can shoot our prayers to our covenant God in Jesus Christ our Redeemer before our bank manager, teacher, mother-in-law, employer or persecutor.

Notice that, by God’s grace, Nehemiah did not let his emotions stop him from making an ejaculatory prayer. First, he was “very sore afraid” (2) yet he prayed. David declared, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee” (Ps. 56:3). Similarly, we could say, “What time I am afraid, I will pray to Thee, even in ejaculatory prayers, in situations where it is impossible to pray out loud or at length.” We must not panic or get flustered or alarmed such that we give way to terror and forget to trust or pray.

Second, Nehemiah’s eagerness did not keep him from ejaculatory prayer. He earnestly wanted to go to Jerusalem to rebuild its walls. But when Artaxerxes asks, “For what dost thou make request?” (Neh. 2:4), Nehemiah does not blurt out, “Please send me to Judah to repair its capital’s perimeter defences.” Instead, we read, “So I prayed to the God of heaven” (4) and then he petitions the emperor (5). Neither fear nor eagerness should keep us back from making our ejaculatory prayers!

Nehemiah 2:4 is striking in that, first, it contains the most famous ejaculatory prayer in all of Scripture, though it occurs in a relatively obscure biblical book. Second, surprisingly, the content of this ejaculatory prayer is not given. Though it is the most famous ejaculatory prayer in God’s Word, its words are not recorded! From its context, however, we can deduce that it was a petition along these lines: “Lord, help me to speak to Artaxerxes so that he sends me to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls!” Third, Nehemiah remembered this ejaculatory prayer years later. He must have darted many thousands of requests to God, but it is this key one that he has recorded here in inspired Scripture.

Brethren, none of our ejaculatory prayers are likely to be famous. We ourselves remember few of them, never mind their precise words. But let Nehemiah 2:4 encourage us to dart more prayers to the Lord of heaven, especially in times of temptation or trial, or when contending with enemies or difficulties, even if it is even merely, “Father, give me patience,” when our children are acting up, or “Lord, help me,” when we are weak and distressed. Remember that ejaculatory prayers are the most versatile of all prayers, and can be made at any time, anywhere and in any situation.

Beloved, “we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,” whether in public prayer or closet prayer or ejaculatory prayer, “that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:15-16)! Rev. Stewart

 

The Covenant of Redemption (3)

In our discussion of the covenant of redemption, we have emphasized the truth that God’s covenant is never an agreement but a relationship. It is first and foremost the relationship between the Persons of the Holy Trinity. God is, in and with Himself, a covenant God. This truth is very humbling since it means that He does not need us to be a covenant God. He is all-sufficient to Himself.

It is also a wonderful truth in that His covenant with us, established first of all with Christ, is His taking us into that relationship in which He is the eternal Father and Christ His Son through the Spirit. That relationship is sovereignly realized and maintained. God makes us His covenant people and, when we show ourselves unfaithful and disobedient, sovereignly maintains that covenant in Christ. He does not cast off His people whom He eternally loved (Rom. 11:2), whether elect Jew or elect Gentile. He even promises to take the children of believers into that relationship, as the God not only of His people but of their seed (Mark 10:13-16; Acts 2:39). How great are His mercies!

That He establishes His covenant first with Christ, making Christ His “firstborn” (Ps. 89:27), in order to maintain and keep His covenant with His people, is God’s wonderful way of revealing the faithfulness and the graciousness of His covenant with His people. In the last News, we looked especially at Psalm 89 in that connection, for few other passages so wonderfully show what the covenant of redemption is.

We now focus on God’s covenant relationship with us, what we call the covenant of grace, especially in Genesis 15-17. We do this because God’s covenant with Abraham shows beyond doubt that His covenant is not merely an agreement but a sovereignly established relationship. These three chapters are beautifully instructive.

Genesis 15 begins with God’s affirming to Abraham His love and friendship in the face of Lot’s departure: “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward” (1). In light of Genesis 17:7, this can only be taken as an affirmation of God’s covenant with Abraham. It is really the great promise of the covenant, “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.”

Having spoken to Abraham of His everlasting covenant, Jehovah predicts the coming of Christ as the One through whom He would be forever the God of Abraham and Abraham’s innumerable seed. Galatians 3:16, a passage mutilated by many modern Bible translations, shows that the singular “seed” is a reference to Christ as the One in whom God would fulfil His promises and not merely to Isaac.

To show His covenant faithfulness and to assure Abraham of it, God tells him to prepare for an unusual ceremony, unusual to us, that is, though not to Abraham. Abraham had to cut several animals and birds in pieces, and lay the pieces of the animals and the birds in two rows, with a walk-way between the rows.

That ceremony was used in those days to confirm a covenant, so that the usual description of covenant making (also in Scripture) was “cutting a covenant.” When used by two men, it was a covenant in the form of an agreement, the two walking together between the pieces of the animals, consenting in some important purpose and showing that they would rather be cut in pieces than break their agreement.

In establishing His covenant with Abraham, God did not make an agreement with Abraham. Instead, Jehovah established His covenant by passing alone through the cut-up pieces of the animals and the birds, while Abraham was fast asleep (Gen. 15:12). Thus God took upon Himself all the penalties and punishments of covenant breaking. This was not, therefore, an agreement or transaction between God and Abraham, but God’s way of sovereignly taking Abraham to be His friend and sovereignly promising to remain Abraham’s friend forever.

Genesis 16 serves as a reminder of the impossibility, humanly speaking, of the establishment and keeping of the covenant by Abraham or by anyone, for Sarah was barren and Abraham’s efforts to see to the covenant by marrying Hagar were in vain. Only when Abraham’s own flesh was “dead” (Rom. 4:19) did God, by a miracle, see to the coming of the promised Seed and the fulfilment of His covenant promises. All this proves that the covenant cannot ever depend on man. It is God’s covenant and He alone is able to keep covenant with His people. The covenant cannot be an agreement.

Finally, in Genesis 17:1-8, before the birth of Isaac, God revealed to Abraham the fact that His covenant would be an everlasting relationship in which He would be Abraham’s God and the God of His seed. He speaks to Abraham of a seed that would include not only physical descendants of Abraham but people of all nations, and also hints of an everlasting inheritance of which the land where Abraham then lived was only a shadow. That seed, however, was Christ above all (Gal. 3:16)

Did Abraham understand these things? Indeed, he did. Jesus told the Jews, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56). This is what Abraham believed and hoped: “By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:9-10).

The sad thing is that many today do not see what Abraham saw. They see God’s covenant with Abraham as a temporal and temporary arrangement. They are so focused on the earthly land, which was only ever a picture of the heavenlies, that they still look for an earthly fulfilment of the promises, whether to the Jews or to both Jews and Gentiles. They think that the salvation of Abraham and his descendants was a matter of law-works. They do not understand that Abraham had the gospel of our Lord Jesus preached to him and that he was God’s covenant friend not by works but by faith in Christ.

Worst of all, many still think that God’s covenant is an agreement, not a sovereignly and graciously established relationship. Not only does this make the covenant a cold transaction, destroying the beauty of the covenant as a relationship with the Triune God Himself through Christ, but it also introduces into the doctrine of God’s covenant something that does not belong to any aspect of our salvation.  Rev. Ron Hanko

 

Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena, BT43 5DR • Lord’s Day services at 11 am & 6 pm
Website: https://cprc.co.uk/ • Live broadcast: cprc.co.uk/live-streaming/
Pastor: Angus Stewart, 7 Lislunnan Road, Kells, N. Ireland, BT42 3NR • (028) 25 891851  
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