Preaching the Law⤒🔗

In His covenant of grace, the Lord God wants to commune with His congregation. His goodness extends so far that He even will instruct His congregation how to communicate with Him.

'Covenant' means that God and His people commune with one another, because this is what God desired in His great goodness. Inasmuch as He wanted to keep company with His people, He desired that they follow Him. For this purpose He gave His covenant partner a heart that would know and recognize Him, and He showed His partner the way she may and should go in warmhearted love.

The fact that God wants to commune with His people and to that end clears away all hin­drances, we call gospel. The fact that God specifically shows His people the way they may go and ought to go, we call the law. But gospel and law form together an integral unity, and hence our human inability to say everything at once compels us to think of God's acts of love in sequence: by way of the gospel as well as by way of the law.

The risk we run in all our deliberations about law and gospel is, therefore, clearly a twofold one. We have the capacity to detach law from gospel and to break apart God's single, spe­cific, loving act into two (mutually) abstract entities. Next we can abstract the gospel, with respect to the law, a second time. This can be done by making both gospel and law inde­pendent from their Author, the God of the covenant.

In the first instance we attach the label 'gospel' and 'law' to two separate circuits. And so 'gospel' will then stand for goodness, love, forgiveness, reconciliation, Christ, and Com­forter. On the other hand, 'law' will then represent the world of commandments and duty, sin, punishment, and final judgment. In this arrangement 'gospel' stands for the way of life, whereas 'law' represents the lane travelled by those going in the opposite direction: those destined for condemnation and death.

The result of this sort of separation is cata­strophic for both preaching and faith itself. He who loses sight of the gospel becomes a legalist and a pessimist. But he who neglects the law is bound to preach a cheap kind of grace.

History is replete with examples that can document both types of derailment. The basic error of this kind of systematizing has, in fact, already been pointed out as the risk of a second abstraction. What it amounts to is this: there is no end of talk about 'gospel' and 'law', but the discussion slips into mere abstractions because the talkers no longer fear the Author of them both but, quite the contrary, brazenly ignore Him. And history provides plenty of examples for this behaviour as well.

It is remarkable that those who made the law their specialty often know so little about the God of the law. This is voiced in the sorrowful complaint of the Lord as it is found in the first prophecy of Jeremiah (2:8). Here we are able to detect the prelude to the sufferings of Christ and the occasion when He reproachfully addressed the scribes. All amateur and profes­sional theologians should take this to heart: "Those who busy themselves with the law did not know me."¹

Despite all this, and having been forewarned as we are, the chapter under consideration intends to deal specifically with the preaching of God's law. The reason for this lies primarily in the situation that preaching the law is a most exacting section of the great commission to proclaim the good news. The subject matter of the previous chapter makes us ask: what is the nature of the relationship between preaching the law and the promise?; how should this relation­ship define all preaching? To stay on the safe side we will start at the beginning; i.e. the law as a gift that has been granted to God's congregation and which is administered in the preaching.

The Law of God's Love←⤒🔗

The salvation of our lives extends so far that God has His commandments constantly proclaimed to His congregation. As you know, it is in the proclamation of the law that we witness the great care and extensive love of our God. He is like a father who teaches his child to walk step by step. Father helps, encourages, teaches how, catches the stumbler, all of this while showing great concern and endless patience, for — ultimately — father will walk with his child, because that is the goal.

This is why we in our lives should recognize the joy because of the law of God; for 'to sound the praises of the law' is to praise God's goodness and to 'delight in the law'² is to rejoice in the Lord.

Taking a delight in the law is clearly shown to us in the book of Psalms. For instance, we refer to Psalm 1 and Psalm 19 and, of course, the largest monument that ever was established in recognition of God's goodness as evidenced in the instruction of the law: Psalm 119 with all of its 176 verses.

In the New Testament we can hear the apostle call out to us, above all else: "...the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good" and "...I agree that the law is good" and further: "For in my inner being I delight in God's law" (Rom 7:12, 16b, 22).

God in His great majesty looks for communion with a flawed people that is slow of learning, self-willed, and, at times, even fraudulent. The holy God choses to live amidst Israel despite their uncleanness (Lev 16:16). Extraordinary measures must be taken to make the impossi­ble possible. One instance would be the priestly service in making "atonement for himself, his household and the whole commu­nity of Israel." To this end it is also necessary that there be priestly instruction, in which our God teaches His people (occasionally to the very last detail) how they are to commune with Him and (nonetheless) live.

The entire book of Leviticus testifies to this, and the lengthy history of the covenant (a veritable chronicle of sufferings) speaks of it. That is why we should thank God for that great gift of the teaching of the law. Herein, too, we meet God's love and caring.

For the proclamation of the Word this will mean that this selfsame love of God for His people ought to be its prevailing tone. The task of the ministry of the Word is to give guidance to the congregation as to how they should understand the good will of God for this life. This ministration cannot to the same degree be as personal as might be feasible during a private or pastoral talk. Even so, it will be able to give every child of God important help in accomplishing the task to "...test and approve what God's will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Rom 12:2).³ The preaching will be able to stimulate the love that is needed for abounding "more and more in knowledge and depth of insight" as the apostle mentions in Philippians 1:9. Without these spiritual gifts the child of God will not "be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless" (vs. 10).

In Colossians 1:9 and 10, Paul speaks about being filled "with the knowledge of his will" and this requires "spiritual wisdom and understanding". The purpose of these direc­tives is to "live a life worthy of the Lord", to "please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God."

This is the meaning of preaching the law. It is not a summation of abstract rules for living, nor dry lessons in morality, but a presentation of the inestimable goodness of God. In the midst of this world He marks out a road for living, and wants to walk this road together with His people into the future (take note of the view of the final things in Phil 1 and Col 1).

The congregation has the privilege to meet God the Father in the preaching of the law. He created man to function within the covenant and to live before God. For that purpose he was given reason and a will, responsibility and discernment. As God's most beautiful creation he is allowed to examine his walk in life and meditate on God's law, and to deliberate how these two are attuned to each other. He is allowed to discover that the statutes of God fit into the structure of creation and how they preserve life against the power of dissolution.

The congregation has the privilege to meet God the Son in the preaching of the law; He came to fulfil the law. He brought to light the profound meaning of the law and taught us that love is the fulfilment of the law. This is the love that expresses itself in self-denial and devotion, caring for the neighbour and consecrating one's life to God. Jesus Christ taught us that He Himself is the Son of God's love. Not only did He proclaim that love, He was and is that very love – the pure, the strong and the eternal love of God. And thus He gave Himself by suffering incalculably for His people. He declared the admirable judicial decrees of God and at the same time respected them with such great reverence that He endured God's wrath because of our transgressing His law. Thus he ransomed us out of sin's dominion and set us free, so that we would be allowed and enabled to freely function before God again.

The congregation has the privilege to meet God the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the law. The Spirit, Who obtains all the benefits of Christ in order to impart them to us, comes near to us in the proclamation of the law so that our lives may be sanctified before God. He urges us on and encourages us to serve the Lord. He makes us willing, ready, and gives us the joy and strength, the desire and insight to function again before God. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit will see to it that our service to God (according to the law) will become our second nature. This is what the Bible describes as: to write the commands upon the tablet of the heart (cf. Prov 3:3).

When we have come this far, then the work of redemption is finished since the writing and preaching about the law have then reached their goal. Then it has become our nature to love God and our neighbour with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength and with all our mind (Lk 10:27). Then the power of the covenant governs our lives. Then we know God as we are known. Then the sound and the resonance are heard together.

With a view to this, the congregation receives the preaching of the law in the midst of the concrete questions in this life. As for all the decisions and solutions which the preaching of the law stimulates in us, this is its true objec­tive.

To be sure, in the present dispensation our decisions and solutions are frequently found to be merely provisional. However, they have the prospect of the glorious future which we are going to meet with God. Our lives are moti­vated by being holy and blameless as referred to in the Scriptures e.g.: Luke 1:6; Ephesians 1:4; Philippians 1:10, 11; Colossians 1:22 and 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

That is why the praise of God's law must be found in the midst of the congregation. The Bible itself leads the way for us in this respect, and a large number of ministers of the word have taught us to take up this praise.⁴

Law and Knowledge of Sin←⤒🔗

Practically all Bible readers know that though we have identified both the purpose and major key of the hymn of praise for the law, we have as yet not familiarized ourselves with the complete score of the law. For the preaching of the law is directed to people who have sold themselves to that mysterious power of sin. The preaching of the law instructs people to walk, people who barely manage to stand on their own feet and can stumble every moment.

K. Schilder voiced his praise for God's law with such expressions as: "the oldest rule of the original thankfulness for the covenant", or as the "rule of paradise for the thankfulness that was once found within paradise".⁵ In this context he spoke of the pure air of paradise we are allowed to breathe. S. G. de Graaf sang his hymn on the law as the rule of love which is founded in God's love.⁶

It should be mentioned, however, that both authors spoke in this manner when they had to explain why it is that God's law uncovers our misery, as Lord's Day 2 of the Heidelberg Cat­echism tells us. This disclosing law has not suddenly become a totally different law. It is the very same law in which God reveals to us the way of life with Him.⁷ But generating the 'pure air of paradise' in a spoiled climate produces a remarkable effect. Introducing the law of love to a world in which everybody knows only of 'self-love', will cause a spec­tacular short circuit.

This cannot be blamed on the law but on the alien regime to which we have submitted ourselves. The law shows us how far we have drifted away from home, how large our debt is before God, as well as our inability to walk with God. The Catechism calls this our 'misery'; yet, this word does not describe our experience but our existential situation before God's countenance.

So when we say that the congregation, by means of the preaching of the law, is to meet God in His glorious acts, we mean at the same time that the misery of each and every child of God will be revealed in that encounter. The more law, the more shortcomings. The more sunlight, the more the corruption becomes visible. That is the way it goes when true life has departed. The light of the sun exposes corruption and even speeds up its process.

Here we recognize the contrasting voice in the Scriptures, namely in the letters to the Romans and the Galatians. Though the law is not death, it exposes death and speeds up the process of death (Rom 7:9-11, 13ff.; cf. 3:19ff.; 5:20; Gal 3:19ff.). For the apostle it is a matter of deepest grief and a life-long struggle. For the children of God it is a life-long sorrow, because the law which is good exposes man's debts before God's holy face. It exposes our reprehensible inability, our clinging unwilling­ness, our rebellion, and our stubbornness.

The more God gets through to us about His love, which demands our love in return (the sound calling for resonance), the more our down-and-out condition will find itself under the searchlights. As for ourselves, we know nothing but self-love, and with all our preten­tious antics we are running only after our own goals. We are that way 'by nature', as Answer 5 of the Heidelberg Catechism defines it.

Since the preaching of the law has indeed this revealing effect, are we then not in danger of overshooting the mark by pursuing the preaching of the law? Is this kind of preaching able to do something else besides striking people down, discouraging and even crushing them? Does it not throw us back onto our­selves and does it not entrap us in deepest despair? Does this doctrine not make people depressed? And does this doctrine not call forth the lamentation which comes to us from history: the agonizing complaint of the sinner, bent down beneath the burden of his faults, his shortcomings, and his corrupt nature? How can these contrary voices leave room for sounding the praise for the love of God? Is there anyone at this stage who still has any energy left to talk about the covenant, com­munion with God, and joy in the Lord?

These are all questions that have been raised throughout the centuries. In this connection, we do not wish to approach the entire set of problems that are engendered by these ques­tions. If we did, we would have to discuss the (far-reaching) exegetical questions regarding the scriptural idiom and usage about the law.

Nor do we in this context consider  giving an analysis of the systems that were contrived to show the relationship of 'law' and 'gospel'. These issues were prevalent in dogmatics and ethics of the sixteenth to the twentieth century.⁸ It is neither our intent to evaluate practical problems associated with 'knowing our misery' and to make an inventory of them. We refer to the problems that are associated with personal piety as manifested, for instance, in Puritanism and pietism.

At this juncture our question is merely whether we completely overshoot our mark when the preaching of God's perfect law accomplishes nothing but to make the congre­gation depressed in their knowledge of sin and feelings of guilt. What is the sense of confront­ing man time and again with his never-ending shortcomings?

The Meaning of Knowledge of Sin←⤒🔗

We may accept it as a rich legacy that the Heidelberg Catechism addressed our question already centuries ago. At the end of the discus­sion on the ten words of the covenant the Catechism asks:

If in this life no one can keep the ten commandments perfectly, why does God have them preached so strictly? Question 115

It is evident from the answer that according to the tenet of the Catechism the spiritual benefit brought about by this preaching is certainly not to be underestimated: 'First, that through­out our life we may more and more become aware of our sinful nature, and therefore seek more eagerly the forgiveness of sins and righteousness in Christ.'Answer 115

So the first benefit is a life-long learning process during which we gain insight in our own sinful nature. In the life of a Christian the knowledge of sin is not just some phase which he, on a certain day, can leave behind after successfully passing a qualifying examination. The knowledge of sin grows with the advanc­ing age of the believer. It grows more pro­found as man progresses on his way, and increasingly begins to understand and recog­nize God's love in Christ. And after a life marked by a growing insight into our own sinful nature, the absolute lowest point will be reached when we find ourselves standing directly before Christ. He is the Christ Who always told us: you shall love God and your neighbour (that is for one-hundred percent!). Out of His mouth came forth the command to love. Once we shall have to appear before Him.

Now we can understand the wisdom of S. G. de Graaf's observation:

Once we have learned to see the law in light of God's own love, the law will cause us to be displeased with our­selves and will undo us. It requires an entire life-time of being guided by God's Word (which shows us at the same time God's love and its claim on us) to move us more and more to that undoing, although only partial. How ashamed we once will be about that irresponsi­ble life of ours!⁹

When the preaching of the love that was revealed in Christ is introduced to the congre­gation, and when the love which Christ asks of us is concretely attested to the congregation, it will become apparent just how much shoddy work we perform for God and our neighbour. There are such things as: our petty-minded­ness, our pretentiousness, our compromising and looking for the easy way out, our self-love and inability to really give ourselves to others, our being completely at a loss what to do with Christ's demand of self-denial. All of these things will now become much clearer to us. When the preaching of the law helps us herein by making an appeal to our heart, the message of the law will gradually find resonance in our life.

Now we shall return for a moment to the issue we pointed out in chapter one: the resonance of our conscience which accuses us. We heard Lord's Day 23 of the Heidelberg Catechism speak about this in the central section about our justification. Our conscience will be unable to respond unless it has been called upon by the message of the preaching. But this Lord's Day teaches us always anew how much we, while reflecting on faith, truly need that voice of conscience. We need it to clearly discover the superior power of God's absolving word, and to embrace that word as an always new sur­prise. The contrasting word "yet" spoken in faith will become a reality because of God's absolving word. In our reflecting on faith it is the only "yet" that has validity.¹⁰

And so is the preaching of the law (the law of God's love) subservient to the profound voice of the gospel. Our great debt will be revealed, and we become more and more aware of our inability and unworthiness of living close to God. But this is not a goal in itself. It is the great depth of that voice which makes the gospel to resound more effectively. Answer 115 of the Heidelberg Catechism speaks on this subject as well. We read there about the purpose of all of this: "(we) therefore seek more eagerly the forgiveness of sins and righteousness in Christ."

An awareness of our sinful nature does not barricade the way to Christ. To have know­ledge of our misery is not a goal in itself. This knowledge stimulates our desire for forgive­ness. This desire transforms our (often) eroded 'forgiveness of sins' into a shiny nugget of gold, or a pearl of great value. Whatever man possesses he will relinquish so that he may obtain this pearl (Mat 13:46). The apostle Paul as well speaks in this manner about the know­ledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, which excels everything else (Phil 3:7-11).

When, in the above manner, the knowledge of our misery together with the voice of our increasingly tender conscience compel us to seek the forgiveness of sins and justification, we will accompany our prayer for forgiveness with our call to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit (continuation of Answer 115, Heidelberg Catechism). This is the characteristic of a genuine turning to God -i.e. 'conversion' – (2 Cor 7:11; cf. Canons of Dort V, 2, 7, 12, 13).

We become gradually more aware of being only beginners of sanctified living (HC, Answer 114). Still, we have learned to under­stand the work of God to such an extent that we refuse to say: "It's no use trying." Each time we begin anew. And we can even speak about making progress on our way ("that He may more and more renew us after God's image;" HC Answer 115, also cf. Answer 86).

It is our firm conviction that we shall not achieve perfection here on earth. The preach­ing of the law teaches us to perceive perfec­tionism as a proud form of idealism. The law is not some kind of codex which we ultimately learn to master and with our intellectual faculties will be able to conquer. Neither is the law an ideology that we finally can identify ourselves with.

The law is the law of GOD and it places us before His majestic countenance. This luminous sun we are unable to subdue; its light we cannot lay hold of nor store up in a warehouse. We stand before our God and we are standing in the light, an unsparing light. Yet, we present our beginners' work to God, as apprentices in sanctification. And since God has adopted us as children and since we (despite everything) may be called children of light, God does not send us back to where we came from, nor does He derides us because of our shoddy accom­plishments. He recognizes some of His own work in it and is pleased because of it. He even has a reward as a gift of grace (HC Answer 63). That is how far God's goodness extends: "...it is by His grace that He crowns His gifts" (Belgic Confession, Article 24).

Fearful servants will eventually turn into perfectionists, but trusting children dare to flee with their flawed work to the Father. It was Calvin who taught us this glorious lesson (Institutes, III, 19, 5).

All these considerations make us understand just how essential the preaching of God's law is in our lives. When this preaching weakens or fades away, the first thing to disappear is the depth of our life with God. Finally we become self-satisfied Christians who in the worst case need a few painkillers once in a while. Our religious activities are then tailored to a religion that is taken for granted, as being just another of the many good habits we have as decent citizens.

In this event, however, we shall never be truly sorrowful about sin. As well, the true joy in God will disappear in equal proportion. Whatever should have been 'conversion' will be transformed into some form of Christian decency; i.e. possessing the formalities and manners of routine Christians. No longer shall we shudder being faced with the greatness of God, nor shall we have an inkling about the abyss of our guilt before God and our neigh­bour. No longer shall we take refuge in the righteousness of Christ, and no longer shall we then strive for the sanctification of our lives.

What does happen is that we find rest in our piety, being satisfied with the results that have been obtained so far. And to quote A. A. van Ruler — from here on we are going to live off our pious pudginess. In doing so we disregard certain criteria and go as far as turning the celebration of the Lord's Supper into a matter of cheap grace. The longing for a pure heart and a perfect life no longer disquiets us, for we are doing just fine, thank you, and have no complaints. ¹¹ What will happen next is that a great weariness will invade our lives; routine and boredom will now band together to aim their blows at the Church. It is possible that some people become so bored, in fact, that they will throw themselves head over heels into the activism of the world-reformers or the excitement of the hallelujah-shouters.

This will happen when the preaching of God's good commandments declines. It turns into one of the avenues whereby a people can abandon their God, only to start living for themselves. When this happens, the Church of God has become another religious club and Christian faith a convenient, manageable ideology.

Law and Wrath←⤒🔗

In the covenant, the holy God communes with a sinful and deficient people. When He speaks to us, in His Word and by means of its admin­istration, the deep, sustained sounds that we hear will have been produced by the very preaching of God's law. When this preaching is accepted in faith, these sounds will find resonance in the internal man (his conscience). Still, having mentioned these points in ques­tion, we are not yet in a position to end this chapter. For the Scriptures do not sound only the sustained bass notes of the law. As a matter of fact, they sound a still deeper tone when they speak about God's wrath and punish­ment, God's day of judgment. We could call this the sub-bass. After the bass part of Lord's Day 2 and 3 of the Heidelberg Catechism, the pedal stop of Lord's Day 4 is used when the subject of threat and vengeance of the cov­enant is introduced. But why should this be so?

This question 'why', is not today's problem nor yesterday's. It was heard throughout the centuries in all kinds of variations. Would it not be better if we were to retire the chapter on God's wrath to the dispensation of the Old Testament? Did the wrathful God of Mt. Sinai not make room for the loving God of Jesus? Does the idea of 'wrath' not belong to the ancient world-concept, when it was still unknown that the earth's atmosphere was not really populated by devils and demons?

Is the 'wrath of God' not just a projection of man's anxieties when he is facing the abyss of his existence? And should this rather primitive image of the Bible not make place for the concepts we have developed during this century, based on our psychological and philosophical thinking systems?¹² It would no doubt be worth the trouble to discuss these 'why'-questions. Yet, we give priority to the instruction given by the Bible itself.

When we pay attention to the design of Lord's Day 4, we notice readily that this portion of our confession does not do anything else but bar all our escape routes. We live before God's countenance, and the time will come that we shall have to appear before God and give account of how we have spent our lives. This is the reality of our lives and no person will be able to escape it. In this confrontation with God, we shall meet today and tomorrow, God's wrath, God's judgment and punish­ment. Briefly, we shall meet the righteousness of God, Who continues to take seriously His law of old.

Why is it so important for us to know this? The answer is found in Lord's Day 1: so that we may live and die in the joy of the only Christ­ian comfort. He who thinks that he knows better, will find that the joy and comfort have slipped out of his reach.

Of course, this may seem an extraordinary way of reasoning, so we shall take a closer look at some of these issues.

Throughout the Bible the wrath of God is an essential part of God's self-revelation. The God Who blesses the life of man who was created by Him (Gen 1:28) gets involved and vindi­cated by coming to terms with the rebellion of sinful man. No matter how disturbing this Scriptural message is, we are not permitted to keep silent about it in our preaching. Whoever does not get angry because he does not want to be, or is unable to, will neither assert himself, nor take his own cosmos seriously. An unim­aginable catastrophe would wreak havoc on creation if God were not to take His own laws seriously. At that very moment the world would perish as God's world.

The same can be said about the manner in which God's wrath manifests itself; i.e. His judgments and punishments on created life. God condemns sin, and His punishments uphold His jurisdiction. He frustrates the alternatives man has fabricated, and He reveals His anger from heaven (Rom 1:18) by leaving man to his own devices until such time when death occurs; i.e. the dissolution of oneself and of society. Their misdeeds have become their punishment (Jer 2:19; Rom 1:18-32).

God reveals His anger in all those instances when he cuts His enemies down to size, and drives them back within their own boundaries, thereby diminishing their territory and ­ultimately- confiscating it. For when He is life, there can be no life outside of Him. Hence the occurrence of illnesses, disappointments, catastrophes, and death.

God will reveal His wrath during the great tribunal which He shall hold on the day when Jesus Christ will summon all generations to judge them (2 Cor 5:10; 2 Tim 4:1; Rev.20:11 vv.). This is the day of the great wrath of God and that of the Lamb (Rev.6:17).

For many centuries this hymn of dismay (Dies Irae) has sounded in the churches:

Day of judgment, day of the Lord;
All will be consumed and turn to ashes,
as foretold by the prophets of old.
O day of terror, which shall dawn
 when the Judge shall pass judgment
and avenge all evil on this earth.

All these realities ought to be impressed in the preaching on the congregation of Christ, for at least two reasons:

First, the congregation of Christ provides refuge to man who is allowed to protect himself against the wrath of God which is taking hold.

The congregation is indeed made up of those who are being saved, (cf. Act 2:47), over against "those who are perishing" (1 Cor 1:18; also cf. 2 Cor 2:15). When fleeing has become impossible, taking refuge with Christ is the only rational recourse left for man; he is taking refuge in Christ and His righteousness. As for wrath being revealed, we learn that the gospel of righteousness in Christ is the only power of salvation in this world (cf. Rom 1:17, 18; 1 Thess 1:10; Ac 2:21).

The preaching of this reality will be an added incentive for the congregation to reach out for the word of salvation. It should not come as a surprise, then, that a specific instruction about the judgment-to-come formed part of the elementary teachings to those who were converted to God (cf. Heb 6:2). We find this confirmed in the account of the mission ser­mons of Peter and Paul, e.g. Acts 10:42 and 17:31). It would be a sad day, indeed, when we no longer dare to speak of these realities in our evangelizing and missionary activities.

Second, we must introduce these realities in the preaching, since the congregation is not by definition (or automatically) protected against God's wrath and judgment and pronouncing sentence. God's wrath turns itself on the sin which dwells in the lives of God's children as well. Judgment and sentence do not come to a halt in front of church doors. The Scriptures demonstrate this clearly in the Old- and the New Testament. Our confession refers to this in, for instance, Lord's Days 4, 30, 31, 33, and 43 of the Heidelberg Catechism as well as in the Canons of Dort (V, 5). Furthermore, we refer to the prayers as found in the forms for baptism and the Lord's Supper. God punishes in the congregation both original sin and the sins we still commit. The lives of church members shall once be summoned before God's judgment seat. Among them there will be church mem­bers who will be told by Christ that He never knew them (Mat 7:21-23; 25:1ff., 14vv.; Lk 13:24­30). And the works of the members of the congregation will be weighed and judged (Mat 25:31ff. 2 Cor 5:10; He 10:30). They, above all, will have to submit to God's judgment, for they were living nearest to the Lord.

Here we are reminded of a remarkable word from Peter's first letter. He is the same apostle who spoke the words of Acts 2:21 and 10:42. The apostle writes in 1 Peter 1:17 to the congre­gations that are scattered throughout Asia Minor what the consequences will be if they invoke the "Father who judges each man's work impartially." In other words, this is an actual, every-day reality of the present. Here, in effect, we are introduced to the people of God, who each day again may address Him as Father. Evidently, we are to think here of the first words of the prayer that Christ has taught us Himself. In other words, Peter begins by mentioning the great privilege a Christian life holds.

This Father daily takes up the matter of judg­ing our lives and work. Whoever calls upon God as his Father, emboldens himself to get into His close presence. God sees him close-up, and this God does not beforehand approve of everything His child has accomplished. God tests and probes the quality of life in its totality (our works). He tests and evaluates our work and is ever so strict with His own people. So, we are being watched; first of all by God Himself. He who appears before Him with a life that is fruitless, shall be unmasked in all his poverty. To be sure, there is forgiveness of sins with God; but 'to forgive' is not identical with 'to condone' or 'to tolerate'. This implies "that God does not show favoritism" as the apostle refers to in Acts 10:34f.

In this context we may consider the serious word of warning which Moses spoke to the people of Israel when he said "...the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes" (Deut 10:17).¹³ In the verse that has the same substance (1 Pet 1:17), the apostle clearly explains to us the purpose of referring to the continual judgment of God. Here, the point at issue is wholesome rever­ence for God, and our communicating with the holy God with awe and reverence. The holy God is to be feared (cf. 1 Pet 1:16; Ex 11:11; Ps 99). 'To fear' means here to venerate God's majesty and love, while being apprehensive of one thing: suffering the loss of God's grace and becoming a victim of His anger.

At this point we could refer to 'a god-fearing life' or 'devoutness.'¹⁴ The covenant is not something that can be taken for granted. Though communing with God has its own implied element of intimacy, it will never become a matter of familiarity. In our lives we must learn the 'fear of the Lord'. For this reason it is important that we identify these words of the apostle as the language used in Deuteronomy, for here the expression "fear the Lord your God" is used regularly (cf. Deut 4:10; 6:2, 13, 24; 10:12, 20; 13:4).

So when the preaching of God's wrath, of God sitting in judgment and pronouncing judg­ment, has turned flat, the fear of the Lord will vanish from life and godliness will fade away. Certainly, we may still hear about 'sin', but we conveniently cancel it out with 'grace' and continue as though nothing has happened. This kind of preaching will no longer distress anyone and fails to proclaim a final judgment. It has lost the eminent level which Lord's Day 31 has accorded the preaching of the gospel.¹⁵

We can reasonably assume that the message preached to heathens will proclaim that the crucified Jesus is the Lord Christ. Furthermore, it will be proclaimed to all of them that even though this Lord can be rejected in unbelief, they shall all have to meet this Lord at the judgment to come (Ac 17:31). The Jesus of Golgotha is the Judge of the world.

When it is impressed upon the congregation of Christ to live their lives in godliness, the reference to the final judgment will add a tone of urgency to the call for living a god-fearing life. A faith that does not manifest itself in godliness and love is a dead faith. Whoever presumes that he can approach God in such a state, shall not see eternal life.¹⁶ But this cautionary preaching stays within the bounda­ries of covenantal communion. This preaching is not out to diminish for the congregation the glory of Christ's redemption. On the contrary, its purpose is to shed even more light on His salvation and to impress the children of God with the exclusive character of it.

Although the preaching of judgment seeks to sensitize our conscience, its objective is not to make God's children desperate. The important thing is here again: The Jesus of Golgotha is the judge of the world. We expect no one else but Him, Who has loved us with a perfect love, as the Judge from heaven. Over against the medieval imagery of a terrifying Judge, we instead, perceive this confession of the Great Reformation as salutary (cf. HC Answer 52).¹⁷

At this juncture we are in a position to grasp what we called, a few pages back, an extraor­dinary way of reasoning: the preaching of wrath and judgment serves to promote the one and only Christian comfort in living and dying happily. We could also put it this way: preach­ing ought to promote the character of all preaching; i.e. the preaching of the promise of God. The proclamation of law, wrath, and judgment drives us back to our only salvation; i.e. the righteousness in the blood of Christ, apart from law (Rom 3:21ff).¹⁸

We are standing at Golgotha - always again (celebration of the Lord's Supper) – and the Holy Spirit addresses us with the words of the new and eternal covenant of grace: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more" (Heb 10:17). And when these have been forgiven, according to what the Scripture teaches us in this context (Heb 10:18), a sacrifice for sin is no longer needed. But the same Spirit continues later on with the warning: "no sacrifice for sins is left". This will be the case when we have "received the knowledge of the truth" and "we deliberately keep on sinning" (Heb 10:26). The one is as true as the other.

In fact, they are two aspects of the same issue: the one and only sacrifice of the Only-begotten does not allow for any alternative, does not need any repetition, and excludes all repetition. The salva­tion in Christ is, indeed, that exclusive. The shock­ing account of Hebrews 10:26-31 drives us back to the security found on Golgotha. No one in this life will be able to elude that sacrifice. Having spurned that sacrifice, no one can make his rejec­tion undone. And without this sacrifice no one has a future.

It is a glorious thing to fall into the hands of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ - that is, when we have been redeemed with the precious blood of the Lamb (1 Pe1:18, 19). But "it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb 10:31), for our "God is a consuming fire" (Heb 12:29).¹⁹

The congregation of Christ ought to live in this strong conviction. Only then will she be able to truly celebrate the Lord's Supper and learn to walk the path of self-examination with the most profound respect for God. The congregation will look forward to the preaching of the law, since the proclamation of the gospel derives its depth from it.

The law will never turn into an instrument that can conveniently be manipulated to accommo­date the congregation's self-chosen life style. Neither can the law degenerate into some ideol­ogy that facilitates the wielding of moralistic rules of life. When the preaching of the law advances the proclamation of the gospel, it can­not happen that because of this law a whole generation of groaning, sighing, and anxious people will make its appearance. Nor is it likely that preaching of the law will stimulate someone to cry out 'hallelujah' all day long, during his progress through life.

The law makes us feel small before God, whereas the gospel raises us up. And both of these incidences illustrate the unequaled language of God's love which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Things shall be, as they have always been in the liturgy of the Church:

He who wants to sing the Gloria (in excelsis Deo) must begin with the Kyrie eleison. And he who confesses his faith with the Credo and together with the holy angels sings the praises of God's holiness with the Sanctus, cannot and will not do otherwise but praise the Lamb of God: Agnus Dei.²⁰

Christian life as a whole is embraced in this glorification.

These lofty tones are truly for the humble of heart.