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Belgic Confession of Faith

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Belgic Confession of Faith

7 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

Article 17

In Article 16 we read of God’s good pleasure and eternal election wherein we saw how God was moved within Himself and had thoughts of peace toward a fallen sinner. In Article 17 we will hear about the manifestation of this good pleasure — that is, in the recovery of the fallen sinner.

Man had thrown himself into wickedness and misery. Now we hear of that again, although this article is about redemption. It speaks about the covenant of grace and about the redemption of the fallen sinner; but the emphasis is first of all upon the state wherein man has thrown himself. The word ‘thrown’ signifies activity. Man has not just fallen into it, as if he could not help himself; he did not stumble over the edge and fall down when the pressure was too much for him; No, he threw himself willfully and foolishly into temporal and eternal death.

Our forefathers always placed the wonder of God’s grace and all His gracious dealings over against the background of our fall and misery. This is very instructive also for us today. One can never preach deliverance rightly without placing it over against the background of our fall and our misery. One can never glorify and magnify the one-sided work of God without referring to the state in which man has thrown himself.

This state of death was three-fold 1) temporal - the separation of soul and body; 2) spiritual - the loss of God’s image and the fellowship with God, so that the conscience of man was filled with terror and distress, and darkness came over his soul, for the rest and harmony were gone; and 3) eternal death - unless the Lord Himself comes and intervenes. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die” (Hebrews 9:27).


“No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him”


It is against this black background that our forefathers wrote about God’s intervention — of His intervening in time and of God’s thoughts and acts to recover fallen sinners. It was not that man, after having thrown himself into that deep pit of misery and separation, began to cry, or, after having brought himself into this state of death, he began to ask for life; or, after separating himself from God, he began to cry for restoration. No, man cannot change himself. Jeremiah 13:23 says, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?” The Lord Jesus Himself has said in John 6:44, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him.” You can find the picture of man in Romans 3.

Smijtegelt, one of our forefathers, described man’s state, and I will briefly quote from one of his works which deals with the catechism.

“Man, the sinner, is now an evil tree with evil fruits, a servant of sin as one dead. That means that he is blind. He doesn’t see that he is miserable and lost. That means, in the second place, he doesn’t hear. We read in the Word, ‘Hearing ye shall hear and not understand. ’ He has no taste for the sincere milk of the Word of God. He has no fear of God’s wrath - at least not a right fear. He is cold and indifferent. There is no true prayer, no true fasting. He doesn’t loathe himself as the living one does the dead one, but imagines that he lives quite respectably. He likes the company of the dead. He associates with them and he doesn’t feel at ease among the living ones. The living ones in turn loathe him and say with Abraham, ‘That I may bury my dead out of my sight.’ There comes a separation between those that are alive and those that are dead. They are exceedingly unable and incapable to do any good. They do not resist sin. There is not one movement or activity in that dead corpse, but only the works which are our transgressions. A mass of worms is what we see in that dead corpse.”

This language is not so pleasant for our carnal heart. There is nothing in man, but there is One who can quicken that dead sinner and give him a new heart and a new spirit within him. He can take away that stony and dead heart out of their flesh. There is One who can say, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Ephesians 5:14). It is He who caused the walls of Jericho to fall down, who made the dry bones in the valley of Ezekiel to live, who cured Naaman of his leprosy, who called Lazarus to come forth out of the grave, and who will in the last day, in the day of judgment, also call the dead and say, “Arise, thou that are dead, and come to judgment,” for nothing is impossible with Him.

We read in Philippians 2:13, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” It is He of whom the prophet speaks in Ezekiel 36:26-27, “A new heart also will I give you…”

How can the Lord do this work? How can He quicken sinners? He does this at various stages of their life. Some He quickens in their childhood years, like He did a Timothy. Others He quickens in their youth and young manhood, or even a little later, as with Matthew. Matthew had already lived for some years and was an adult in the house of customs when the Lord called him and he left his sinful practice. The Lord may also convert in old age as with Abram, who was called out of Ur of the Chaldees. He can do it even in the last hours of our life, as with the thief on the cross, although this rarely happens. In all these instances it is God who quickens the sinner.

This quickening work is necessary in order that we may live unto Him and glorify our Maker. It has pleased the Lord to choose a people for Himself and to make them alive. Our fathers say that God in His wisdom does this. Wisdom is required. Do you know why? There are two things which can never be reconciled by human activity. The justice and the truth of God said, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). But the mercy of God said, “Let him live.” There was as it were a holy conflict. But now in His wisdom, the Lord found a way in which justice would be satisfied, not abolished. It would be fully satisfied, and the truth established and confirmed. He would open a way based on justice, in which He could pour out His love and show His mercy unto fallen, wretched sinners who had plunged themselves into that deep misery. This is a way of wisdom. That wisdom will be admired when it is revealed to God’s people. Then they will say, “Oh Lord, what a perfect way! Thy honor and Thy name are not damaged by it, but they are even magnified and exalted. Sinners will be saved in such a sure and perfect way that nothing is lacking. Oh, what a way of wisdom.” Now the Lord can give them a place among the children. Wisdom was necessary to find such a plan, such a covenant, and to open such a way in which sinners could be saved in an honest way.

— to be continued—

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Bekijk de hele uitgave van zaterdag 1 januari 1994

The Banner of Truth | 24 Pagina's

Belgic Confession of Faith

Bekijk de hele uitgave van zaterdag 1 januari 1994

The Banner of Truth | 24 Pagina's