The Last Years and Passing Away of Anton van den Bergh (1)

After discussing the matter with his family, I want to tell something about the life and passing away of Anton van den Bergh. In doing this, I want to make use of what his parents told me and of what I myself experienced with him. It could arouse a holy jealousy in our rising young people, when they read how a seventeen-year-old boy exchanged temporal for eternal life and entered into the rest that remains for the people of God. Surely it is to the encouragement, direction, and counsel of souls hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Above all, it is to the honor of God’s Name, for God’s Word is established unto the end of the ages: “The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” It is our intention to tell it as we heard it. May the Lord send His light and His truth.

Anton van den Bergh was born on August 16, 1964, the tenth child in the family. He was a nice boy with a cheerful disposition and a keen mind. He was also ready to help everybody at all times, so he was well liked also by those of his own age. Before his serious illness he had known only a few days of sickness; thus, as far as could be seen, he was very healthy.

Also at catechism Anton could keep up very well. He liked to attend the catechism class; he was eager to learn, and often he took notes. He also did not like to miss a church service, a fact that we stress because many young people in our days neglect the church services. They are then not on the market of free grace, and soon it will be too late. May the Lord bind that upon our hearts, so that we would not leave our places empty.

Anton attended school until his fifteenth year, the last years being spent at the Guido de Bres School in Rotterdam. During the holidays of 1979, Anton became sick. It started with a pain in his leg, just above the ankle. At first it was thought that he had sprained his ankle, but it did not get better. When the doctor was consulted, he immediately sent him to the hospital, where X-rays were taken. What a disappointment! After a few months it became evident that Anton had an incurable illness.

Dear reader, think for a moment what it means to receive such a message. That usually means, does it not, that our days are numbered, and that our life will last only a short time. If we receive such a message, then with many it will be a message such as Hezekiah received, “Set thine house in order; for thou shaft die and not live.” Anton cried bitterly, for the message was exceedingly bitter for him. He kept crying, “Oh, if only I had a new heart now. If only I were converted.” We read that Hezekiah turned his face to the wall; he mourned as a dove and chattered like a swallow. He cried, “O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.”

In December of that same year Anton’s leg was amputated. The amazing thing was that he was allowed to be very submissive under this. If he were asked whether he was angry with the Lord, he would say, “Oh, no! The Lord must deem this necessary.” It usually stayed this way, so much so that his family members wondered about it. He never complained, and he was never rebellious. His parents sometimes said to each other, “He doesn’t have that submission of himself.” However, that is no ground for eternity.

The Thursday night before he had to go to the hospital, Rev. Blok came to visit him. He believed that Anton had been placed on his path, and he had exercises at the throne of God’s grace for this boy. Before he left, he read Psalm 54. Anton had also wanted to request this psalm to be read, but he had not dared.

After the operations he recuperated surprisingly quickly, so quickly that even the doctors were amazed. So they lived between hope and fear, as did the parents. Our children are dear gifts committed unto us, also when they have become older. Those who have had to lose children know what sorrow this brings at such a time. If we know that we must lose a child, it eats away at our life.

Meanwhile, someone had visited Anton in the hospital. The man was crying in the hallway when the parents came. With tears he said, “Oh, people, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God.” The parents thought that this meant that Anton would get better, which would be a miracle, even though he would have to go through life with one leg. Looking back, they understood that the Lord would work a miracle, but in a different way from what was expected.

After the operation on his leg, he helped on the farm and drove the tractor. He even tried to milk cows, but this was harder than expected. So the days passed and became months. The Lord supported not only Anton but also his parents and relatives.

The Lord did not leave Himself without witnesses. There was much prayer for Anton among the people of God. By many he was carried on the wings of prayer, in secret and in public. The Lord bound him on the hearts of His people. After all, the Lord says, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee.” An old Christian said to his mother, “I wish you support from above. Although Anton is still living now, I have little expectation according to the body. But if the Lord looks down upon him, don’t expect wonderful miracles. He is still a boy, remember; look for the simple work of God.” Never had anyone been bound upon his heart like Anton, and this could not remain hidden. The Lord never binds a matter upon the hearts of His people without reason, for is not His honor at stake?

Allow me to add, in this respect, an urging to stay with the truth. Oh, young people, remain with the Word and with the church. Smytegelt says that then you are under the prayers of God’s people. Who can tell? The Lord might answer those prayers.

Anton longed to be with God’s people, and when some of God’s people visited him, the day passed much too quickly, he said. Once a woman asked him to say which psalm they should sing. He asked to sing Psalm 25:10 (Psalter 415:10). Someone else gave him a book entitled, Thirty Years of a Sinner’s Life; Anton read this very earnestly. When God’s people left, he would ask them to remember him. However, it did not give him rest; he could not find rest anywhere. Many times he said to his mother, “Mother, I am still unconverted. Now what?” Then he would shake his head and press his lips tightly together. Then he also would become very sorrowful, for the need of his soul was great. What should a mother say then?

Oh, what a grief it is for parents when they are led into such ways. When death draws near, everything of man falls away. What else can a father or mother say at such a time, but to encourage their child to ask the Lord for the much needed blessing. They had sometimes heard God’s people say that when the Lord comes then He brings everything with him. When this was said to Anton, then he would be very quiet and keep his eyes lowered. What was going on in that young heart at those times? He was yet so young, and so seriously ill!

Finally the doctors said that nothing more could be done. Anton was incurably ill. Once I also had to bring this message to a young man. He cringed and whimpered under the blankets. We then also can point to grace, which is still available even though time is but short. How infrequently is grace granted on a sickbed or a deathbed, and even then we have to be careful with it. Oh, young people, ask for the Lord in your days of health.

When Anton had received this message, an old friend came in the evening, and Psalm 25:8 and 10 were sung (Psalter 415, verses 8 and 10). When ready to leave, this friend said, “Anton, you have experienced much physically, but your soul is at stake. What is impossible with man is possible with God. Oh, Anton, continue to cry aloud.” Oh, those tears and those desperately imploring eyes of Anton! There was no deliverance for him anywhere, except from above. But he felt he was outside of it; he was unconverted.

There were among God’s people these who were given to trouble the Lord, in a holy way, day and night. It was, “Lord, have mercy upon him, be gracious unto him and convert him.” We later heard of one who, on the evening of his passing away, cried unto the Lord until ten o’clock, and then she could not pray anymore. She thought that it was a hardening of heart, but that was not the case, for Anton had died. Prayer was no longer necessary, and we cannot and may not pray for the dead. When she heard that Anton had died, she said, “O Lord, answer me from Thy Word how it has fallen according to his soul.” She opened the Bible just where the Lord says in His Word, “And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him? He will avenge them speedily.” Also she was brought to these words: “Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not.” However, the application of these texts was much assaulted. God’s work is always assaulted. Satan never sits still, but the Lord arises for His people. On the day of the funeral the Lord gave the solution to everything.

We were privileged to visit Anton many times, but he just could not say anything. He would look at us with such questioning, sad eyes. Once he asked his mother, “It says in the Bible that they passed under the rod. What does that mean?”

The answer was, “This means that the tenth one was for the Lord; it was sanctified unto Him. Whether it was healthy or sick, crippled or scurvy, did not matter; the tenth one the Lord wanted to have.”

Then Anton said, “I am the tenth one in the family. Oh, Mother, would it now also be possible for me?” This also was again a remarkable thing, because when Anton had passed away, his mother’s oldest sister came with a letter Anton’s mother had written to her mother. When Anton was born, his mother had received from a friend a letter in which was written, “Now the tenth one is born in your family, and the tenth one is marked. Oh, how great would it be if it might be a seed blessed of the Lord.” Anton’s mother had written about this to her mother, and that letter had been saved.

Once I visited Anton and asked him whether he would rather become healthy and live for many years, or be converted and die. Then Anton said that he would rather be converted. After I had left, he asked his mother, “Is it possible to steal spiritually?” In this way he was always busy. If you spoke with him or prayed for him, the tears would run down his cheeks. However, he never dared to appropriate anything. Once I asked him if he could pray. “Oh,” he said, “it is always the same.” To the question of what he prayed then, the answer was, “Lord, convert me.” Then it was said to him that the Lord Jesus prayed the same words three times: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me.”

After this Anton was inwardly tempted that he was asking for conversion only because he could not be cured anymore. Along with that it was said to him inwardly that he had better stop asking, because it would never happen anyway. Oh, how Satan used his tricks to drive Anton into such great distress. The Lord gave the opportunity to point out to him that such reasoning came from the wrong side. The Lord does not say such things, for He giveth liberally and upbraideth not. We have no rights, and this Anton learned. If he had to perish, this would be righteous. Therefore it was necessary to keep asking, without rights.

— to be continued —

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