"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

By looking at the above definition of faith we see that it involves both belief and conviction. That is to say there is something to believe in, and that belief is real. We can turn to the Heidelberg Catechism Q/A #21 for a further definition. The catechism, in speaking of true faith, speaks of Aa sure knowledge" and "a hearty trust." This reflects the fact that to have faith is to have something to believe in. There is a body of information. And there is a conviction about this information. One cannot believe in nothing, and one cannot believe and be totally unsure of what he believes.

So what do we believe? The Apostle Paul says in Romans 10:9 "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." That is not very complicated. It gets right at the heart of what the gospel is. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, by His sacrifice paid for your sins and rose again. By His death and resurrection your sins are paid for and you have new life in Christ. This simple truth is reality for those who have faith. This is what we believe.

It would seem that this should be quite easy. Anybody should be able to figure this out. The problem is that due to man's fall into sin it is impossible for anyone to see this simple truth by themselves. The apostle Paul says in Romans 1, that man is born with a knowledge of God, but because of sin "their foolish hearts were darkened." It is impossible for the natural man to come to faith in Jesus Christ by himself.

The good news of the gospel is that faith is part of the gift that we have in Christ. In the book of Ephesians the apostle Paul again says this about faith: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." (Eph. 2:8) It is through the Holy Spirit working in the heart of man by means of the Word of God that God's people come to faith.

That does not relieve anyone from the responsibility of believing. God calls all to hear and receive the gospel. We must really believe. We must seek the help of the Holy Spirit in our belief.

It is indeed a great joy to know that we are not left to our own ability. God does call us to faith and he does provide for the eyes of our hearts to be opened so that we are able to believe. That is why the Heidelberg Catechism says that we have a "hearty trust.@. Certainly there are times when the temptations of the world cause us to have some questions about what we believe in, but Jesus has promised that the work which the Father sent Him to do will be accomplished. He will not fail to provide a sacrifice for sin and will work saving faith in the hearts of anyone whom the Father gave Him to save.

Not only does this provide assurance for us who believe, but it is important to know that when we witness the truth of salvation to the lost we do not have to depend on them to come to faith on their own. We know that the Word of God will cause faith in the hearts of those whom God seeks to save by the power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot talk anyone into believing or even force them, but when the Holy Spirit is at work, the message of the gospel is effective.

How great it is that we can know Jesus Christ as our Savior and believe that His work on the cross has accomplished salvation for us.

When the early church developed basic statements of faith, which came to be what we confess as the Apostles Creed, they found that it was not enough to simply confess a belief in God the Father. They also confessed that He is the creator of heaven and earth. The creed is organized by means of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But this division is not simply based on identifying the persons of the Trinity, it is also based on the division of labor within the Trinity. The particular task which is credited to each of the persons is part of this confession. The tasks spelled out in the creed concentrate on God's work of salvation for His people. It is important to remember this when we look at God the Father as the creator of heaven and earth.

The Work of Creation

Basic to confessing God the Father is understanding that He is the creator. The Christian believes that God created all things in heaven and on earth by the Word of His power. "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth," Psalm 33:6. The Christian doctrine of creation simply holds that God alone is eternal, that He alone has existence in and of Himself, and that everything that exists besides God does so by God's will and by His action. As the sovereign God, He called into existence a creation from nothing. There was no previous existence in any form whatsoever. To hold that God created out of nothing (ex nihilo) is necessary in maintaining the proper distinction between God and the creation.

The creation is dependent upon God, yet it is distinct from God. God gave a distinct existence to the creation, but did not withdraw from the creation. God is present in all of the creation by the Spirit who is active in all the world, but not in that He is a part of all the world. This doctrine of creation says a great deal about God. It also says a great deal about His dealing with the creation and specifically His dealing with man.

The Importance of the Doctrine of Creation

The tendency today is to talk about creation, (even in a Christian context) merely from the perspective of science. Science involves the study of creation, but examining the creation (science) cannot answer the question of origin, where it came from and how it came into being. That is a theological question.

We believe God to be the one eternal God and as the sovereign God He brought this creation into being by the word of His mouth. Creation is a matter of faith as is stated in Hebrews 11:3 "by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."

If we cannot properly understand who God is unless He is viewed as the creator God, then it follows that the Biblical account of creation is important. If we hold that the fact that God is the creator is important we can then not dismiss the details of the creation account as being unimportant. The Biblical account of creation must be taken seriously. The plain reading of Scripture says that God brought all things into being out of nothing, "in the beginning God create ..." and He brought all things into being in the space of six days. The report by the Synod of the Reformed Church in the U. S., on "The Days of Creation" says this, "to defend six-day creation is to defend the proposition that the Bible means what it says, and that its meaning is clear."

The following quote from Ursinus' commentary on the Heidelberg catechism in his comments on question and answer #26 underscores the importance of holding to a biblical doctrine of creation.

" To believe in the Creator, is to believe: 1. That he is the Creator of all things. 2. That he sustains and governs by his providence all things which he has created. 3. That he has also created me, and made me a vessel of his mercy, that I should obtain salvation in Christ; and that he, by his special providence and grace, will lead me to that salvation which he confers upon his people. 4. That he has created all other things for us, that they may contribute to the salvation of the church, to the praise of his glory. In short, to believe in the Creator, is to believe that God created me that I might contribute to his glory and that he created all other things that they might be subservient to my salvation. ‘All things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's,' as if he should say all things are created for us, and we for God. (1 Cor. 3: 22, 23.)"

Covenantal Dealings Is Based Creatorship

Often when Scripture makes reference to the worship and adoration of God it begins with a reference to God as creator. Certainly when Scripture presents the good news of salvation provided by grace it is based on God the creator.

We can look at several examples of this in Scripture. In Psalm 121, when the child of God looks to God for all he stands in need of he says in verse 2 "my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth". When the apostle Paul spoke on Mars Hill to the philosophers in Athens he presented God in this way, "God, who made the world and everything in it" Acts 17:24. Paul's purpose is that they believe in God, in doing so he makes sure that they understand that God is the creator.

In Isaiah 40 the prophet speaks comfort to the lost. When he tells sinners that they will be saved and their enemies destroyed he speaks at length of the God who will accomplish this salvation as the God of creation. When the apostle John presents Christ in his gospel he begins the account of the incarnation by making reference to God's work of creation by the Word in John 1:1-3. The God who saves you is the God who made you.

Rooted in the fact that God is the sovereign creator is the providence of God. The one who brought all things into existence is also the one who upholds this creation in the palm of His hand. Many people ridicule the idea of a sovereign God. They point to such things as hurricanes, destructive fires, disease and terrorist attacks, and they say "how can these thing happen if God is really in control?"

Many Christians also struggle with these things. The reason they struggle is because they have a poor understanding of who God is. As the Heidelberg Catechism explains the implications of confessing God the Father as the maker of heaven and earth it deals with the down-to-earth struggles of believers. This part of the confession has tremendous implication for how we deal with life on a day to day basis. It is the foundation for comfort and hope as we go through life day by day.

The catechism states in #26 that the God whom we confess is one "in whom I so trust as to have no doubt that He will provide me with all things necessary for body and soul". There is recognition that in this world in which we exist, because of God's just curse on the creation due to man's sin, there are many struggles that we must deal with. The question is how. How can we deal with disease and war and disasters?

To confess God as the creator is to confess that we depend upon Him and put our trust in Him to meet our every need. First of all you can trust Him because He is Almighty God. The God who you can rely upon to keep you in the midst of the troubled life is the God who laid the foundation of this world, who hung the stars in the heavens and who upholds every creature in the palm of His hand. Certainly this God, the God of creation is able to take care of you. He is able to turn whatever comes in your life to your own good.

Not only is He the powerful sovereign creator, He is God the Father who made heaven and earth. A father loves and cares for his children. God the creator is a faithful Father. God tells Jonah that He cares for His creation. Even more so, His love as the Father for those with whom He has made covenant, for those whom He has sent His Son, and for those who are the recipients of His grace, is a love that will never fail.

So the God to whom you can look to and trust in for every need and comfort is both able to provide because He is the Almighty creator God and He is willing because He is God the Father. The question of how we can trust God to help us in all of our needs is answered in these words from #26 of the catechism, "...for He is able to do it, being Almighty God, and willing also, being a faithful Father."

Know and Confess Your Creator

This is no small matter. With the present day emphasis on having a personal relationship with Jesus, many Christians really don't know whom they believe in. People imagine who their God is, and they don't want doctrine to get in the way. It is not uncommon to hear someone say, "well my God wouldn't do this, or that" or "due to my concept of God I can't accept that God would eternally punish sinners". So we end up with a God who is no different that then an idol made by human hands.

However, when we take the Bible seriously concerning all that it says about God the creator and His work of creation, we then put our faith in God as He has revealed Himself. This is the God in whom we must believe and whom we must confess. When we confess the God who has revealed Himself to us and not the one we have imagined then He is the God that we trust for eternal life.

John 1:14

"The reason for the season" is a phrase that is sometimes used to point to the fact that in the midst of all of the commercialism and all of the partying and decorations, that we do not forget what we are celebrating in the first place.

The reason for the birth of Christ is so sinners, people enslaved to the pollution and curse of sin, might be saved and restored to God. The real reason for the season is "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of His good pleasure." It is about the restoration of God's people to God through the sacrifice of His son on the cross as payment for their sin.

Jesus Came for Us to See Him

The birth of Jesus is God, the eternal Word, as the second person of the Trinity, coming and being in our midst. His being in our midst is, first of all, God Himself taking on human nature. There is a coming together of God and man in the incarnation, in the person of Christ. This is truly God, remaining fully God, also now in the flesh, fully human. The incarnation-the Word became flesh-is the essence of "God with us."

The Scripture says that "He dwelt among us." We are very familiar with the story in Luke 2 of how the shepherds went and saw the baby Jesus and wondered and praised God. There is also the story of Simeon in Luke 2:30 who had been granted the privilege of seeing Jesus. We read that Simeon said, "I have seen salvation."

God has always been with His people. In the Old Testament He was with His people by means of the cloud by day and fire by night, also by means of the tabernacle and the temple. Prior to that, He spoke to Noah and to Abraham. But this is more than revelation or contact with God. This is salvation. All that God had pointed to and promised in the Old Testament has now come about.

It is important to understand that the essence of salvation is to be at one with God, to be in fellowship with God. That was the relationship which God established with Adam and Eve in the garden. It was destroyed by sin. So what Adam destroyed, God now restores by coming to dwell with us Himself, by means of the incarnation. There is no closer relationship which we can have with God, than that we might see Him. This is Immanuel.

The birth of Jesus is a wonderful story, but more importantly it is a demonstration of grace. This is the eternal, sovereign creator God, who is born. If you think simply being born in a stable and lying in a manger were humble circumstances, remember it is God Himself who is born in these circumstances. Paul speaks of this humiliation in Phil. 2:6-7, "who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men." The idea of Immanuel is that the second person of the Trinity humbled himself, took on the form of a servant, that is, human nature with all of its limitations, so that He might be God with us.

Remember what this is really all about. As God created man in His image, it is of the very essence of our nature to be in fellowship with God. Adam and Eve enjoyed that fellowship. They saw God and experienced life in His presence. Yet it was man who destroyed the relationship, who rebelled and broke the fellowship. It was man's fault; it was our sin when we forsook God to pursue other gods. God would be perfectly just if He said, "Man got himself into this situation-it is by his own doing, too bad."

Instead the God of grace made the supreme sacrifice, humbled Himself in the incarnation and became flesh. Though we had gone away from Him, He comes to us to restore and reconcile us to Him. When we were blinded by our sin, God provided the ability for us to see Him through Immanuel. Even as the shepherds came and saw, and as Simeon saw, so we by the Holy Spirit have our eyes opened that we might see salvation.

The problem is ours. The misery is ours. God comes by grace so our problem might be fixed.

Jesus Came That We Might Actually See Salvation

John is talking about a lot more than seeing the baby Jesus. The apostle John had been with Jesus and had been taught by Him. Even more to the point, Jesus is the Word of grace and truth. The revelation of Jesus is the revelation of salvation. In Jesus we see salvation.

When God came to Adam and Eve after they sinned in the garden and He cursed the serpent, God gave a basic promise of salvation. By various means this promise is continued and expanded upon throughout the Old Testament. Jesus Himself is that message. When we say that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, we must understand that it is the revelation of God's plan of salvation. To say that you see Jesus is to say that you see the Word of salvation. It is not just to have some religious or spiritual experience, or to feel good about Jesus. But it is to see that the Word came and dwelt among us. To see Immanuel is to hear, to understand, and to learn the word of truth. It is about the teaching, the doctrine of God, and His plan of salvation.

Jesus Himself is the grace of God; He is the truth of God; He is life; He is happiness. These things are only in God and you can only see them when you see Jesus by faith, when He dwells in your heart.

Jesus Came That We Might Have Fellowship with God

Again, remember that Christ came because of our broken relationship with God, as a result of sin. He came to restore that relationship. It is not just about going to the stable and lowly shepherds being able to lay their eyes upon Jesus, or Simeon to take Him in his arms. But it is to be with God face to face. It is to once again be able to walk and talk with God, to sit as it were at His banquet table. It is to truly know God.

The revelation of grace and truth is not just about the mystery of how the eternally begotten Son of God could enter the womb of Mary and be born as a baby. The truth which is revealed in Jesus is that He is the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sin of the world. Ultimately, Christmas is about the Son of God becoming sin for us, bearing the full weight of the burden of sin and going to the cross. It is about Jesus suffering in our place the full wrath of God against sin.

We are told near the end of this book, written by the apostle John, that the very purpose for this writing is to see salvation. "And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:30-31).

The story is about an actual event. At Christmas we celebrate an actual event-the birth of the Savior. We understand the real dwelling among men is not just about the short time in which the person of Jesus was on earth. It is because of this real event, the dwelling of the Word among us, that Christ dwells now in your heart, and you can dwell forever in the presence of God.

To see God is to see the glory of God. To see Immanuel is to see the glory of God. The shepherds saw that glory. To be restored to God by salvation is to see His glory, to be in the presence of God, and to know His glory for eternity. What we are talking about here is eternal life. To truly see Jesus and to really understand the "reason for the season" is to have eternal life. This is not just some momentary warm and fuzzy experience. It is to have eternal life. Ultimately this is what it means that the Word of God came and dwelt among us.

Christmas is a great time. It is very appropriate that we celebrate. Remember what you are really celebrating!

Heidelberg Theological Seminary Convocation

The idea of convocation is to mark the beginning of the school year. In our case, it is perhaps more to mark the beginning of a new direction. It is a reminder to faculty and students as well as supporting constituents of what we are about. We seek to train men for the gospel ministry. This responsibility involves a significant and high level of academic activity.

We need to also keep in mind that we are intimately involved in the training of ministers, which is a function of the Church. We are training men to proclaim the Word of God. Our Lord gave the Commission to the Church to call the lost and teach them His word so they might know and serve Him. Thus, our academic activity is based on the word of God.

Report of the 263rd Meeting of the Synod of Reformed Church in the United States

The Synod of the RCUS convened for its annual session at St. Paul's Evangelical Reformed Church, at Hamburg, Minnesota, on May 11-14, 2009.

On Monday evening the delegates met with the congregation of St. Paul's Evangelical Reformed Church to open the session with a worship service which was conducted by Rev. Herman Van Stedum with Rev. George Syms preaching God's Word from Rom. 1:16-17, the sermon being entitled, "The Power of God." The delegates again met with the congregation for worship on Wednesday evening with Rev. Paul Treick conducting and Rev. Eric Kayayan preaching a sermon entitled, "Outside of the Kingdom of Christ There Is No Light" (Col. 1:9-23).