The Heidelberg Catechism (2)

Lord's Day 2

First a little story. There was a young boy playing with sand in his yard. He had also gotten a small pail of water, and with the mud he formed a castle with his hands. But then a mosquito landed on his nose, causing it to itch. With his dirty hands the boy rubbed his face, and the mosquito was gone. A few moments later he went into the house. His mother said, “Son, what a sight! Your face is covered with mud. Look in the mirror!”

Indeed, when he looked in the mirror, he also saw his dirty face. It is good that there was a mirror, for otherwise he would not have seen it.

Now Question 3. You will remember from the last time that all men are miserable and wretched. The instructor now asks, “How do you know that you are so miserable and wretched?”

The student answers, “Out of the law of God.” That is the Ten Commandments, which are read to us every Sunday in church. By these the Lord speaks to us.

Question 4. What does the Lord then require of us in this law? What is the Lord asking us to do?

The answer tells us that in two parts. The first part is that we must love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. That is covered by the first four commandments, which are on the first table of the law.

The second part is that we must love our neighbor as ourselves. That is spoken of in the six commandments of the second table of the law. You know who our neighbors are. They are all other people. You probably know the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Thus the law tells us how miserable we are, for we no longer love the Lord with all our heart, and neither do we love our neighbor as ourselves. This can be seen by the sins that we do each day. We are all sinners. That is what the Lord is saying to us by His law. The law is like the mirror in our little story, where the boy looked in the mirror. Only then did he see how dirty he was.

The student says, “I also have a mirror. My mirror is the law. When I look into it, I see how filthy, how sinful I am. I am frightened by what I see; I am very sad about it.”

It was a good thing that the boy in the story was not blind, for otherwise he could not look in the mirror. But we in our hearts have become blind because of sin. Only the Holy Ghost can open our eyes, just as He did for the student. Only then do we see in the mirror of the law how terrible we are. Then we are frightened and become sad, just like the student.

Do you remember Bartimaeus? He was blind, and he asked the Lord Jesus whether he might be made to see. We must also ask for this!

Question 5. Can we keep God's commandments? Can we keep all of them? Can we love God and our neighbors? Can we do so with all our heart?

The answer is, “In no wise.” In the answer it tells us how sad it is with us. We are prone by nature to hate God and our neighbor. How terrible! Instead of loving the Lord, we hate Him. How is this seen? It can be seen by the sins which we commit!

“By nature” means that these terrible sins live in our heart already when we are born. What is the meaning of the word “prone”? It means that we so quickly do sinful things, without even thinking about it. We do them so easily. Our wicked hearts desire it, and therefore we do so.

“To hate.” Perhaps you say, “Yes, but I truly love my father and my mother and some other people.” Yes, that is a blessing which the Lord provides us.

It is similar to what we see in a zoo. We see a fierce tiger. He looks quite tame, so that you would like to pet him. But he is not tame. Fortunately there is a high fence with heavy bars so he cannot come near you. Otherwise it would be different! The bars keep him from attacking you. In the same way the Lord keeps us so we do not do what Cain did, who slew his own brother. From this we can see that our hearts are evil. Think also of Absalom. He spoke sweet words to his father, but what did he do later? He chased him away and wanted to do battle with him.

You must pray to the Lord that He keep you from such things. The Lord is willing to do so. Think only of those heavy bars, for otherwise what could happen? It is so true that we are prone to hate God and our neighbor.

Christ the Foundation of the Church

(Psalm 118:22-23)

Behold the sure foundation stone
Which God in Zion lays,
To build our heavenly hopes upon,
And His eternal praise.

Chosen of God, to sinners dear,
And saints adore the name;
They trust their whole salvation here,
Nor shall they suffer shame.

The foolish builders, scribe and priest,
Reject it with disdain;
Yet on this Rock the church shall rest,
And envy rage in vain.

What though the gates of hell withstood?
Yet must this building rise;
'Tis Thy own work, almighty God,
And wondrous in our eyes.

— Watts

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