Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 21 May, 2023
“And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed,
and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:29)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
Christ’s Glorious Ascension [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:1-16
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 18
I. In Biblical Prophecy
II. As His Movement
III. As Our Salvation
Psalms: 24:3-4, 7-10; 68:31-35; 47:1-9; 110:1-5
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Nehemiah, a Man Who Sought the Welfare of Israel (6)
Rightly Responding to Mockery [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 4:1-14
Text: Nehemiah 4:1-6
I. The Enemy’s Mockery
II. The Leader’s Prayer
III. The People’s Work
Psalms: 62:7-12; 69:1-6a; 79:8-13; 123:1-4
For CDs of the sermons and DVDs of the worship services, contact Stephen Murray
If you desire a pastoral visit, please contact Rev. Stewart or the elders
CPRC Website: www.cprc.co.uk • Live Webcast: www.cprc.co.uk/live-streaming
CPRC YouTube: www.youtube.com/cprcni
CPRC Facebook: www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC
Quote to Consider
Herman Hoeksema on Lord’s Day 18: “To Christ as the mediator of redemption, as the head of his church, the promise of the Holy Spirit was given. This promise was fulfilled when he ascended on high and sat down at the right hand of God. He ascended, leading captivity captive, that he might give gifts—glorious gifts of grace, gifts of forgiveness and righteousness, of holiness and love of God, of eternal life and glory—to men … In that Spirit he is ever present with us. And that presence is full of grace. Through the Spirit he is gracious to us, causes us to taste his grace, and makes us partakers of all the blessings of grace he merited for us. This is the nature of the presence of our ascended Lord. And this presence is constant. He never leaves us. We are not always conscious of this blessed nearness of the God of our salvation, but his presence never fails. We may wander far away sometimes, as sheep that go astray, so that we are oblivious to his presence; but he never forgets us or forsakes us, nor does he ever fail to bring us back from our evil wanderings to the blessedness of his fellowship. But in the measure that we live by faith, hear his word, and walk in his way, we also experience that Christ, the ascended Lord, with respect to his Godhead, majesty, grace, and Spirit, is ever present with us. The consciousness of that presence is the joy of faith” (The Lord of Glory, pp. 67-68).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
Family visitation (Eph. 4) on Monday (22 May):
7PM – Murrays
8PM – Michelle
Tuesday Bible study at 11 AM will meet to continue our discussion of Charismaticism’s doctrine of faith.
Family visitation (Eph. 4) on Wednesday (24 May):
7 PM – Charlotte
8 PM – Douglas
9 PM – Stewarts
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Haak is entitled, “The Dress Code for Marriage” (Col. 3:12-13).
Offerings: £1,305.23. Donations: £25 (Rep. of Ireland).
Translation Additions: 2 Hungarian, 2 Polish, 1 Russian and 2 Spanish.
PRC News: Rev. Brummel declined the call to Hudsonville PRC. Rev. Mahtani declined the call to Doon PRC. Zion PRC has formed their first trio of Revs. Brummel, De Boer, and Spronk. Seminarian Arend Haveman will be doing his final year internship this summer and autumn (July-December) in Pittsburgh PRC under Rev. Bruinsma.
Beholding God’s Face
Rev. Cornelius Hanko in the Standard Bearer, vol. 25, issue 4
As for me. … I shall behold Thy face.
Simple, yet infinitely reassuring is the expression of the hope of the believer. Reassuring in life, as we wend our earthly pilgrimage through the midst of this present world with all its sufferings and trials; but also at death, when we finally arrive at our journey’s end.
“As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness” (Ps. 17:15).
Thereby we confidently affirm that we have no part with the world of wickedness that surrounds us on every hand. Gratefully we acknowledge that God has set us apart, made us distinctly different from sinful men. They have their portion here below. Their God is their belly. They set their hearts on earthly treasures, all of which they must leave behind at death for the generation that follows … Their end is destruction, utter disillusionment and despair.
“But as for me, I shall behold Thy face in righteousness!” Blessed hope. For God’s face is His self-revelation in Jesus Christ.
Also among men we know and recognize one another by our facial features and expressions. Our character, but also our inner thoughts and feelings are written upon our faces. Therefore the face of a departed dear one lingers long in our memories. Fondly we recollect the distinctive features, the expressions of love and joy, friendship and fellowship, even sorrow and sympathy.
Thus God reveals His face to us in Jesus Christ. As yet we see His face but dimly in the mirror of His Word, for we are still of the earth earthy, so that our eye is fit only to see earthly things. Yet in the mirror of the Scriptures, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, we behold the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Who is Jehovah, the almighty, sovereign, unchangeable, covenant God. We see Him in all His endless perfections as the only true God, all-sufficient, eternal, omnipresent, righteous, holy, full of knowledge, infinitely wise, almighty in power, unfathomably good, the Fountain of love and grace. In fact, His face is turned toward us in love and grace, mercy and compassion.
Now we still behold in a mirror darkly, but what we see floods our souls with the blessed hope that we shall see Him face to face. And that eternally without any dread.
Surely God’s face is terrible, even a consuming fire, when it is turned in wrath against the wicked. Israel felt something of this at Sinai, for they fled in terror even at the sound of His mighty voice. The wicked in hell grind their teeth in horror at His very presence. For the Lord is holy and just to duly recompense every man according to his evil works. Also Christ experienced this in bitter anguish of soul while God’s face was turned against Him because of our sins in the consuming darkness of the cross.
But we shall behold His face with gladness. For we shall behold Him in righteousness. Not with our own righteousness shall we appear before Him, but in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Although we ourselves are worthy of condemnation, we shall stand in His presence as altogether sinless, perfectly righteous, as if we had never transgressed any of His commandments. Nay, He will smile His approval upon us as those who have perfectly fulfilled all righteousness and merited eternal life. He will declare us worthy to be sons and daughters in His house, even the heirs of His glory.
He will look upon us with that love whereby He loved us in Christ from eternity. His countenance will shine on us in favour. His smile will fill our souls with all the blessings of infinite salvation.
We shall see His face; we shall stand in His presence; we shall delight in His fellowship; we shall be filled with His blessedness.
In that assurance we say to Him even now, “I shall behold Thy face in righteousness.” Blessed hope in life and at death.
As for me … I shall undergo a glorious transformation. For I shall awake!
… Yet, what a difference! The wicked pass from death into death, unto eternal desolation. While the hope of the righteous is: I shall awaken.
The cause for that difference must be sought already in this life. By nature we are all alike, born in trespasses and sins. Yet the righteous have been renewed according to their inward man. Although they are still in this flesh, they have become new creatures. In principle old things have already passed away, and all has become new. For the regenerated sinner possesses the resurrection-life of Christ within his heart, which is the beginning of the heavenly life already in this present time. Therefore he lives by faith, and not by sight. He opposes the sin that wars in his members. And he professes the blessed hope of the life to come. Living in this body he expresses the desire to be delivered from this present body of sin and to be with Christ, which is far better.
For him death is swallowed up in victory. As a sleeper arouses from his sleep, bestirs himself and awakens to consciousness, so the righteous man awakens as he passes through death’s door. He closes his eyes here, only to open them in glory. The natural fades from view, the spiritual opens before his wondering gaze. The weary night of sin and death is past, the morning of the eternal day has dawned. The inward man, which is renewed in Christ as a new creature, is now fully delivered from the outward man of sin, to be with the Lord forever.
That amazing change the Psalmist expresses by saying, “I shall awake in Thy likeness.”
This cannot possibly refer to the final change, when the body will be raised in incorruption to be conformed to the likeness of the glorious body of Christ … But already before this final change, immediately at death, we shall pass through death into life, to awaken in the likeness of our God.
For this likeness must refer to God. We shall be like Him, bearing a creaturely reflection of His glory as His sons and daughters in His house. This is the hope expressed by the apostle John, when he says, “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God … Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when it does appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (I John 3:1-2).
Then we shall bear the perfect likeness of our heavenly Father, in as far as is ever possible for a mere creature to bear that likeness. We shall be sons in the full and complete sense of the word. For then we shall be fully fit to dwell in His house, to stand in His presence, to behold His face, to delight in His fellowship, and to enjoy the blessedness of His covenant life forever!
“I shall see Thee and dwell with Thee face to face”. When I awake … As for me … I shall then be satisfied. Not as if this is the final glory and full perfection of the saints. More must still follow.
For one thing, the bodies of the believers, which are now laid away in the graves, must still be raised. Those who have passed on before us are in heaven without their glorified bodies …
Furthermore, they are also awaiting the new heavens and the new earth, the new creation in which righteousness will dwell forever, and they will lay their crowns before the throne of Him, Who lives and reigns forever and ever.
Yet the life immediately after death is the fulfilment of all the longing that fills the heart of the believer during his earthly pilgrimage.
Here he must still bear the sufferings of the flesh, pains, sorrows and losses. He must even suffer for righteousness sake. But there all tears will be wiped from his eyes. Here he still fights the battle of faith against all the powers of darkness that wage war against him, even in his sinful flesh. There he will wear the victor’s crown forever.
But above all, here he is still in the body, and therefore lives apart from the Lord. He is a citizen of the heavenly kingdom, and therefore a pilgrim and stranger upon the earth, with an insatiable yearning within him for his heavenly home.
And therefore with an eye of faith he looks to the hope to come. In life, in sorrows and bereavements, in pain and in suffering; but also at death, as he passes into the valley of the shadow of death, he has this hope: Soon I shall be satisfied. For I shall behold His face in righteousness.
