Looking forward to receiving the May 15 issue of the Standard Bearer? Here's a taste of what's to come in the next issue of our Reformed magazine:

Meditation | Rivers of Living Water

"The church of Spirit-filled believers is led to preach the gospel and bear witness to others of the grace of God in Jesus Christ… These are what the Spirit uses to bring others to faith and life with God."

Editorial | "These Are Exciting Times" - The Agenda for Synod 2013

“The times are exciting for the Protestant Reformed Churches… It is the excitement of seeing the Lord working in and through a branch of His church. “

Search the Scriptures | Robbing Christ of His Honor (3)

"Having proclaimed to Adam and Eve the gospel of grace, God added at once a visible symbol to that gospel—by clothing Adam and Eve with coats of animal skins.”

 Notice to Book Club Members!

**Changes to the Book Club Benefits.**

(Book Club members please respond.)

Since eBooks are now available to our Book Club members, we've made a few great changes to the Book Club benefits that will take effect in June, 2013.

Here's what's new:

If you have not yet been contacted regarding these changes or haven't yet responded to that contact, please contact us.

**If you do not respond, you will continue to receive the print version only of each new book publication.** 

 You've been asking...and we're so close to giving you what you've asked for!

Our very first eBook will be this old tried-and-true, hard-to-find treasure: The Church Order Commentary by Monsma and Van Dellen.

This revised third edition is the accepted standard for the interpretation and application of the Church Order of Dordrecht by Reformed and Presbyterian denominations. This authoritative, time-tested commentary instructs us today on the need for a book of order for biblical consistency in church government. 

The Church Order Commentary will be available only in eBook format for $19.95 and will not be a formal Book Club offering. (No print copies will be available through the RFPA.) However, Book Club members may use their 35% off discount to purchase this eBook version. The eBook version will be available in .mobi format (for Kindle users) and .epub (all other devices).

(This meditation by Rev. James Slopsema first appeared in Vol 88 Issue 13 of the Standard Bearer.)

And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.
Matthew 28:9-10

In the 40 days after His resurrection Jesus appeared ten times to His disciples. The purpose of these appearances was especially threefold. First, they were to prove to the disciples that He had truly risen. Secondly, they were to instruct the disciples concerning the nature of His resurrection. Finally, each appearance taught something different about the resurrection.

Jesus’ appearance to the women as they returned from the sepulchre to Jerusalem on Easter morning was Jesus’ second appearance. He had appeared to Mary Magdalene at the sepulcher just before this.

Let’s join the women to whom the risen Lord appeared that glad morning.

A reassuring appearance!

Early on Sunday morning a group of women left Jerusalem for the sepulcher of Jesus to embalm His body. In this group were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, Solome the mother of James and John, Joanna, and other women. These same women had been present at the cross scene on Friday to witness Jesus’ crucifixion. Sadly they had followed the body of Jesus to the sepulcher of Joseph of Arimathea. Either there had not been enough time on Friday to embalm Jesus’ body properly, or in their great sorrow the women were not aware that it had been done. And so, after waiting out the Sabbath day, these women went to the sepulcher of their beloved Master at dawn on Sunday to perform this last labor of love.

At the sepulcher these women received the surprise of their life. At a distance they discovered that the stone that had been set to seal the grave had been rolled away. In their grief they had forgotten about it. Mary Magdalene concluded that someone had stolen Jesus’ body, and without further investigation she returned to Jerusalem to inform the disciples. But the other women proceeded to the sepulcher. And they found the sepulcher empty! If this was not enough, an angel appeared to them to explain the empty tomb. What a message he gave to them. Jesus is risen, as He said. Go tell His disciples that He is risen and that He goes before them into Galilee.

What astounding and joyful news!

Quickly the women departed from the sepulcher to tell the disciples the joyful news.

As they were approaching Jerusalem, Jesus appeared to them. We ought to understand what it means that Jesus “appeared.” Through His resurrection Jesus was changed. His resurrection was not a return to this present earthly existence. It was advancement. His body was glorified, being made heavenly and spiritual. The result was that Jesus’ resurrection-body was invisible to the earthly eye. He literally had to appear to be seen.

As He appeared to the women Jesus greeted them with a customary greeting, “All hail.” This means, “May it be well with you.”

How glad the women were to see Jesus! In their joy they fell at Jesus’ feet and worshiped Him. Their hearts were also gripped with the fear of the unknown. And so Jesus assured them, “Fear not.” But their joy of seeing Jesus was greater than their fear. How they needed to see Jesus! The angel had shown them the empty grave and proclaimed to them the resurrection of Jesus. They had believed and were glad. But they needed something more. They understood nothing of what had happened—neither Jesus’ death nor His resurrection. They needed something more. Jesus must appear to them and explain it all. And when He did, they fell at His feet and worshiped Him.

A comforting gospel!

Jesus proclaimed a most comforting gospel to the women by referring to His disciples as His brethren.

The Scriptures speak more than once of Jesus’ brethren. Jesus identified those that do the will of the Father in heaven as His brothers and sister (Matt. 12:49-50). In the Day of Judgment Jesus will proclaim to the righteous that they had shown mercy to Him by showing mercy to His brethren (Matt. 25:40). In turn, God did predestinate those whom He foreknew, to be conformed to Jesus’ image, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren (Rom. 8:29).

We ought to understand the significance of this term. It suggests a family, in this case the family of God. In that family God is Father and Jesus Christ is the eldest Son. All those that belong to Jesus are by Jesus’ saving works also sons of God the Father. This also makes them brothers of each other and especially of Jesus, who is their eldest Brother. As sons they are all heirs of God. A son is an heir of all that his father has. This is true also in the family of God. God has an inheritance for His sons—eternal life in glory. This inheritance
is earned by the eldest Brother, Jesus Christ.

Now what is amazing is that at this time Jesus still referred to His disciples as His brethren. His disciples had just rejected Him. When Jesus was arrested, they had all fled. This was not so much out of fear, but because they were offended in Him. He was not the earthly Savior they had envisioned Him to be. By abandoning Jesus they had in effect rejected and repudiated Him. They no longer wanted to be associated with Him. He was no longer their Brother. Especially Peter had made that very clear, when later that night he denied Jesus three times. And by rejecting Jesus as their Brother, they had in reality rejected God as their Father. It was true that they were now grieved by their actions. Think of Peter running out into the night upon facing Jesus after his third denial. They had acted in haste. But it was too late to undo what they had done. Jesus was gone. And so it was of greatest significance that Jesus said to the women, “Tell my brethren….” Jesus still counted them as His brethren! They were still part of the family of God!

Here we find a most blessed gospel.

How could Jesus, in light of what had happened, still refer to the disciples as brethren? The answer is that Jesus had just paid the price for sin, even the sin of His disciples in repudiating Him. On the basis of the payment, Jesus had even publicly prayed for forgiveness not only for His disciples but for others of His own that had been involved in crucifying Him. This was His first cross word. And God heard Jesus’ prayer, so that He not only forgave them but also owned them as His own sons.

This blessed gospel Jesus now proclaimed as the resurrected Lord. God’s purpose in Jesus’ resurrection was to bring the blessings of the cross to His people and to do so by proclaiming to them the gospel of the cross. This is what Jesus did now to the disciples. They had abandoned Him and forfeited their right to the family of God. But by God’s grace they grieved over their sins. And so Jesus was quick to put their grieving hearts to rest. He would appear to them later on that evening. But first He appeared to the women with the message, “Tell my brethren….”
And Christ continues to do this as the risen Lord.

All we that belong to Jesus are His brethren. We have been adopted into the family of God on the basis of Christ’s perfect work on the cross. This makes us brethren to each other and to Jesus Christ. Together we are heirs of God.

But often we repudiate Jesus Christ and the Father, just as the disciples did. We do this when, for the praise and acceptance of men, we fail to defend Jesus’ name. We do this every time we fail to rely upon Jesus’ saving power, resulting in a sad turning away from the ways of God to walk with the children of disobedience.

We deserve to be disinherited, just as the disciples did!

But Christ has also removed those offenses by His death on the cross so that we are still members of the family of God and still Jesus’ brethren. And the risen Lord Jesus continues still to assure us of that. By the power of His Word and Spirit He leads us to repentance and assures us that we are still His brethren.

An important directive!

Go tell My brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see Me.

The disciples must go into Galilee that Jesus might bring His little flock together once again. The little flock of God, which numbered about 500, had been scattered as Jesus said it would be. But now they needed to be brought together again. Christ had work for them. He would use them to begin the great work of the new covenant of gathering the elect family of God from among the nations. In His death Jesus had laid the basis for this family and their inheritance. Now in the power of His resurrection He must gather them together. He would do that by the preaching of the gospel to the nations, effectively calling all those ordained by God the Father to be His brethren. But He would accomplish this through His brethren already on the earth. So Jesus called His brethren to Galilee. In Galilee they would be safe from the hostility that they had just witnessed in Jerusalem. There in Galilee Jesus commissioned them to go and preach the gospel. For by the gospel of the cross is the family of God gathered.

This implies a calling today.

The risen Lord is still gathering the family of God. He has already gathered many into the family. And He will continue to do so until the day of His coming.

Christ uses the family of God already gathered to gather still more. He will gather them from the generations
of those already gathered. And He will gather them from those raised outside the family of God. Jesus still uses the gospel of His death and resurrection for this purpose.

The calling of the household of faith is to be faithful in proclaiming that gospel.

Then she can also look forward in hope to the final gathering of the whole family of God in heavenly glory.

 Excerpt from Herman Hoeksema’s When I Survey, Book Two, Chapter 1 “Laying Down His Life” (page 65) 

The suffering of the Lord is as many-sided as human sin and redemption; it is as deep as hell and as high as heaven; it is as rich as the love of God. And we may notice, too, that a comparatively very large part of the gospel narratives is devoted to the passion and death of the Savior. We must, therefore, confine our discussion to one definite aspect of this suffering, and consider it from a certain particular viewpoint. And the specific aspect of the passion of our Lord which we have chosen to discuss in all our Lenten meditation is that of Christ’s voluntary suffering. Christ’s suffering was a sacrifice. And this implies that he suffered and died voluntarily, by which I mean, not merely that he was wholly resigned to, in agreement with his way of sorrow and grief and death, but that his passion and death were acts of his will. Distinction is often made between the active and passive ovedience of the Lord. And this distinction may stand, if we only remember that also his passive obedience was very really obedience. His suffering was an act. He suffered because, before God, it was his will to suffer. He died because it was his will to die. As the Lord himself expresses it in the word to which I would like to call special attention in the present chapter: “Therefore doth my Father love m, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” John 10:17-18.

Christ laid down his life in order that he might take it again. We should not separate these two clauses, for they are intimately related, and the first can be understood correctly only in the light of the second. Christ did not merely lay down his life, but emphatically he laid down that life in order that he might take it again. A suicide lays down his life, but to no purpose and from a thoroughly sinful motive. In a certain sense it may be said of one that he lays down his life for another. A mother may die for the babe of her love; a friend may die for his friend; a soldier may die for his country. But in all these cases death is the end of the self-sacrifice, and the sacrifice bears no other fruit, yields no other benefit that that which the death as such could profit the other. But with Christ this is different. He laid down his life for the very purpose that he might take it again. The main thought is after all, not the death of Christ, but his resurrection. The resurrection is the goal that must be attained. For Christ is there speaking as the Good Shepherd. Sheep were given unto him by the Father. He has been appointed the shepherd of the sheep whom the father loves. Christ has a flock. And that flock must be saved. These sheep, whom the Father gave to Christ, are in themselves in the midst of death. They have sinned, and as sinners they are under the just wrath of God and delivered over unto death. But the Father has ordained that they should have life, and what is more, that they should have I more abundantly than ever they had life before. In Adam they possessed an earthly life, and the image of the earthy they bore. But it is God’s purpose to give them the eternal life of the resurrection in heavenly glory. To give them that life the Father appointed the Son, even from before the foundation of the world, as their Good Shepherd. He will give them that life. But in order to be able to give them this more abundant life of heavenly glory, he must first obtain it himself, and become the quickening Spirit. Only as the risen Lord, the heavenly Lord, can Christ give the more abundant life to his sheep. And in order to attain to that glorious life of the resurrection which he is to impart to his sheep, he must first die, or rather, he must lay down his life, in order that he might take it again. Therefore, then, does his Father love him, because he is willing to lay down his life in order that he might take it again, and thus become the living Good Shepherd that is able to give life to his own more abundantly.

Well, not necessarily near you. The next issue of the Standard Bearer is heading to mailboxes all over the world. Hopefully, to yours. If not, order your subscription today! This periodical is a must-have in every Reformed household.

Ever wonder how the Standard Bearer is mailed? Here's a short little demonstration in pictures...

1. First, we stage the copies of the Standard Bearer on the work table for easy access. Then Tim and Paula work on exporting our current subscriber list from our customer manager database and loading the list into the mailing software.

2. Tim (sometimes Paula) runs the addressing printer which rapidly feeds each individual copy of the Standard Bearer through, printing the addresses and postage on each copy. The software sorts the addresses according to zip code, with short pauses between. Each group then gets bundled together with rubberbands.

3. The bundles are then placed in USPS issued bags, labeled with tags showing how many pieces are in each bag. Tim then loads up the bags and brings them down to the local post office.

We just sent out the April 1 issue today. Look for it in your mailbox midweek next week!

Coming soon to you in the April 1 issue of the Standard Bearer...

Meditation | Disciples on the Road to Emmaus

"Jesus Christ rose from the dead, just as He said." -Rev. John Marcus

A Word Fitly Spoken | Corruption

"Our misery is that the whole of creation is held captive by a destructive, pervasive, and inexorable power." -Rev. Bill Langerak

All Around Us

"With the imminent legalization of homosexual marriage in the US and euthanasia in Canada, this world is not becoming a better place. Christians should have no such illusion." - Rev. Clay Spronk

Here's a little taste of what we're working on...eBooks on our website!

Stay tuned for more details about pricing, access, and changes to the Book Club!