Noah's Altar of Thanksgiving

40 Pages·2012·3.09 MB·English

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Trinitarian Bible Society
Founded in 1831 for the circulation of
Protestant or uncorrupted versions of the Word of God
Officers of the Society
General Committee: General Secretary/Chief Executive:
Mr. D. P. Rowland
Chairman:
The Rev. M. H. Watts
Operations Director:
Mr. D. Larlham
Vice-Chairman:
Mr. G. D. Buss, B.Ed.
Resources Director:
Vice-Presidents: Mr. D. J. Broome, C.P.F.A.
The Rev. B. G. Felce, M.A.
Editorial Director:
The Rev. G. Hamstra, B.A., M.Div. Mr. P. J. D. Hopkins, M.A. Oxf.
Mr. D. Oldham
Treasurer:
Pastor R. A. Clarke, B.Sc., F.C.A. Senior Editorial Consultant:
Mr. L. Brigden, B.Sc.(Hons.), M.Sc., B.A.(Hons.)
Mr. G. R. Burrows, M.A.
The Rev. R. G. Ferguson, B.A. Editorial Consultants:
Pastor M. J. Harley Mr. G. W. Anderson, B.A.
Mr. A. K. Jones, LLB. (Hons.) Solicitor Mr. A. Hembd, M.A.C.S.
The Rev. E. T. Kirkland, B.A., Dipl.Th. J. Cammenga, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.
The Rev. D. Silversides G. Fox, B.A. (Hons.), D.D., Ph.D.
The Rev. J. P. Thackway The Rev. W. M. Patterson Jnr., B.A., D.D.
Cover Picture: ©iStockphoto.com/christophe_cerisier
Issue Number: 595 – April to June 2011
Issue Number: 599 © Trinitarian Bible Society 2012
All rights reserved. The Trinitarian Bible Society permits
April to June 2012
reprinting of articles found in our printed and online
Quarterly Record provided that prior permission is
obtained and proper acknowledgement is made.
Contents
Open Day 2
Annual General Meeting 2
From the Desk of the General Secretary 3
TBS Telephone Numbers 6
Noah’s Altar of Thanksgiving 7
Editorial Report 10
The Treasury 15
Kenya 17
The Word of God among all Nations 31
Quarterly Record Production Team Editorial Director: P. J. D. Hopkins
Senior Editor: Dr. D. E. Anderson
Editorial Consultant: C. P. Hallihan
Editors: D. R. Field, K. J. Pulman
Graphic Designers: P. Hughes, S. Talas
Circulation: J. M. Wilson
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Trinitarian Bible Society – Quarterly Record
The next Open Day is to be
held, if the Lord will, at
Open the Society’s international
headquarters in London, on
Day Saturday 16th June 2012,
from noon until 5.00 p.m.
We anticipate a full afternoon
of displays, guided tours and
the latest on our translation
projects, including a talk by our
Amharic (Ethiopia) translator,
Haile Emiru. Opportunities
Noon to
for fellowship will complete the day, as
5.00pm
we once again present the work of Bible
translation, publication and distribution. 16th June
Please mark your calendars and make
2012
plans to join us if you can.
The 181st Annual General Meeting
The Business Meeting will be held, God willing,
at 11.00 a.m. on
Saturday, 22nd September 2012
at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London SE1 6SD
After the Business Meeting, at 2.00 p.m.
The Rev. Dafydd Morris
is expected to preach
Lunch will be served between the meetings
All are invited to attend
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Issue Number: 599 – April to June 2012
From the Desk of the
General Secretary
T
o the Lord’s people, the Holy Scriptures that the Almighty, their Triune God, is Lord over
are very precious: they are the voice of all. He is not only the Divine Creator of all things,
their Beloved, the Good Shepherd. In the but He has absolutely perfect comprehension
sovereign goodness of God, His people have of all that is taking place, has taken place,
been brought to hear His voice, and now they and will take place, throughout the world
follow Him (John 10.27). They know that it is by and—indeed—throughout the whole of the
His Word and His Spirit that He communes with universe. Everything continues according to
them and has fellowship with them. As sinners His infinite wisdom and purpose. He is still the
saved by His grace, they pray that as they Sovereign Lord of heaven and earth. Nothing
diligently read His Word they may (like Mary is happening among the billions of stars in the
of Bethany in Luke 10.39) be pupils at the feet sky, or among the nations of the world, or in
of their Master, and ‘grow in grace, and in the their own countries, or in the particular villages,
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ’ towns and cities in which they live, or in the
(2 Peter 3.18), and—by the sanctifying work churches and assemblies in which they gather
of God the Holy Spirit—have their lives more for worship, or in their homes or, indeed, in their
and more conformed to His divine will. The rich own individual lives, over which He has not
fare of the Word of God is food for their souls; its perfect knowledge, understanding and control.
promises and precepts are ‘the green pastures’ There is not anything, and there is no individual,
in which they are made to lie down, and the ‘still about which and of whom He has not a perfect
waters’ beside which they are led (Psalm 23). and complete comprehension. Indeed, so great
It may be that even after many years of is His knowledge that there is not a thought in
pilgrimage through this world they have to anyone’s mind, an action of anyone’s body, a
acknowledge that they are but poor pupils and desire in anyone’s heart, which is not intimately
only understand a very little of the boundless known by the Lord. The very number of hairs on
fullness contained in the Word of God. Yet each of our heads is known by the Almighty, as
like children they have put their trust and is the number of blades of grass in any field, and
confidence in the One whom they love, fear the number of grains of sand on any stretch of
and desire to follow, and cast themselves afresh the shore of the sea! Truly, His knowledge is past
for time and eternity upon His mercy and grace finding out!
day by day. Truly, the Lord’s people are a poor Not only is the Lord’s infinite knowledge a
and needy people; their dependence is wholly comfort to His people, they are also consoled
upon Another! by the awareness that—notwithstanding
The Lord’s people also rejoice in the knowledge there being so much that distresses, perplexes
and concerns them—all is wholly and perfectly
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under the control of the Most High, who rules or in whatever other institution it may be,
and reigns throughout the world in His infinite they are filled with sorrow at the gross spirit of
wisdom and power. Their confidence is in the ungodliness that is so terribly prevalent. How
God of the Bible, who has revealed in His Holy true, in such a time as this, is the cry of the
Word that He is the Sovereign Lord over all, Psalmist, ‘It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for
having all power in heaven and earth, and who they have made void thy law’ (Psalm 119.126).
has clearly stated that nothing whatsoever can Rulers and governments—the ministers of
take place in any part of His creation without God (see Romans 13.4)—instead of fulfilling
His very specific knowledge and permission. As their God-ordained role of interpreting the
their God is the Divine Creator, from whom all law of God under the auspices of the King of
have their being and in whom all men live and kings and the Lord of lords, seem to be far
move (see Acts 17.28), so He is also the Divine more concerned (using the United Kingdom
Lawgiver. All has been made for His glory. As as an example) with enacting as much evil and
Lord of His creation, all authority is His. ‘Thou God-dishonouring legislation as they can to
art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour remove what vestiges of the divine law are left
and power: for thou hast created all things, in the land, and to replace it with that which
and for thy pleasure they are and were created’ will (unless the Lord is pleased to intervene
(Revelation 4.11). in great mercy) result in greater judgments
Just prior to His ascension to His throne in being poured out upon the land. Today, sadly,
Glory at the right hand of the Father, the the Bible is no longer seen as the basis of all
Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the legislation. In addition, judges, magistrates and
Trinity, having (in His great goodness) once others involved in the legislative process appear
for all accomplished salvation for His church, to be intent on interpreting laws in such a way
stated unequivocally, ‘All power is given unto that they discriminate against Christians, and
me in heaven and in earth’ (Matthew 28.18). in favour of sodomites, whose vile wickedness
Furthermore, the Word of God abounds is so often described as no more than an
with the commands of the Lord calling the ‘alternative lifestyle’, and in favour of those
attention and the obedience of the whole of who subtly (and not so subtly) promote the
His creation to the precepts and laws contained introduction of Islamic sharia law based on
in His Holy Word. the Qur’an. Today, sadly, the Bible is no longer
The Bible is thus a book of divine authority. It is accepted as the basis of equity and truth.
written by the Creator God for the good of His Moreover, most universities, colleges and
creation. It is written for men and women, for schools are not institutions where the reading
the young and for the elderly, in every society of the Word of God precedes instruction or
throughout every nation of the world. Its where prayer is made to the God of heaven
application is co-extensive with humanity and for His blessing upon the instruction being
covers all of man’s relationships to one another, imparted. Unhappily, many of our educational
as well as man’s relationship to God; it is the organisations are today nothing more than
volume of divine law for all rulers, governments schools of practical atheism, at which so many
and subjects, the divine rule of faith and of the nations’ youth are taught to rebel against
practice for all churches and assemblies, the their parents, the well-established norms of
divine manual for all husbands, wives and society in general and true Biblical Christianity
children, and the divine textbook for the in particular. Today, sadly, the Bible is no longer
instruction and education of all children. regarded as the source of true wisdom and true
Rightly, the Lord’s people mourn and grieve knowledge.
at the spirit of anarchy that is so prevalent in Printing, that wonderful development which
every part of society in our day. Whether it is in was so greatly used of God for the distribution
the government, the judiciary, the education of printed editions of the Bible in the 16th
system, the media, the church and the family, century and the centuries following, is now to
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Issue Number: 599 – April to June 2012
a very great extent used for the publication of no reading of the Word of God and no coming
material that is wholly repugnant to the truths before the Most High to implore His favour
of the Word of God. The television and each and blessing upon parents and children. Many
of the other forms of mass media that are so of the Lord’s people also have to grieve over
prevalent today are also to a very great extent their own families and the way their children
used to promote that which is evil: little is used have departed from the way in which they
for the advance of the apostolic directive of were brought up. Today, sadly, the central place
the Apostle Paul, ‘Finally, brethren, whatsoever the Bible should have in the home is largely
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, replaced by the television and other sources of
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever worldly entertainments.
things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, Whilst recognising that very many believers
whatsoever things are of good report; if there in our supporting base will be seeking to live
be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think out every part of their lives according to the
on these things’ (Philippians 4.8). Today, sadly, principles of God’s Word, the question must be
the Bible has been replaced in so many areas of asked: what is the answer to the lamentable
society by corrupt communications. and solemn state of affairs described above? It
The church is likewise a divine institution, ‘the is—and can only be—the blessing of Almighty
pillar and ground of the truth’ (1 Timothy 3.15), God once again upon His own Word as it is
of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the all-glorious translated, published, distributed, read and
Head and King. And yet, how little concern preached among the peoples of the nations of
there appears to be among many of those the world!
who profess to be office-bearers and members As we look around us today, the situation
of ‘the church of the Living God’ (1 Timothy may appear very discouraging. And it would
3.15) that the body of Christ be truly governed be so if we were to leave out of our thinking
and regulated, not by the will of man or the God and the glorious revelation that He
traditions of the past, but by the expressed has given of Himself in His Word! We have
Word of its Master and Lord. Solemnly, many every reason to look up and forward with
such bodies could better be described as confidence. The Almighty, the Lord of Hosts, is
‘synagogues of Satan’ (Revelation 2.9), so God, reigning supremely over all. Everything
exceedingly great is their dreadful departure is subject unto Him! Therefore, in all the many
from the Truth of God. Today, sadly, in many difficult and perplexing situations in which
churches the Bible is no longer the sole voice the Lord’s people find themselves, they are to
of undisputed authority, but has given way confide in the wonderful truths relating to the
to pragmatism and the egocentricity of its glory of their Lord declared throughout the
members and leaders. Holy Scriptures. In Psalm 46.1, the Psalmist,
When the Lord brought Eve to Adam in the speaking in the name of the people of God,
Garden of Eden, the first family unit was states, ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very
instituted. Today, little value is placed upon present help in trouble’. Later in the same
the wonderful institution of the family or even Psalm, the Lord exhorts His people, ‘Be still, and
upon the bond of marriage, the Scriptural know that I am God: I will be exalted among
union of one man to one woman. In too the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth’; to
many cases, young women with husbands which words of confidence and comfort, we
or ’partners‘ appear to be more concerned are instructed to respond, ‘The LORD of hosts is
with the advance of their professional careers with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge’ (Psalm
than they are with fulfilling the God-ordained 46.10,11).
role as a wife and mother. Men, for the most We, therefore, urge all our members and
part lacking in Biblical leadership, are also friends to join with us, prayerfully and
to be blamed for the godlessness of many practically, beseeching the King of Zion at the
homes: homes where there is no family altar, Throne of Grace that it may please Him to bless
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Trinitarian Bible Society – Quarterly Record
the ministry of the Trinitarian Bible Society many, the advance of the Kingdom of Christ,
abundantly, as it continues to undertake, in the blessing of the nations of the world and
humble dependence upon the Lord, its work the greater glory of our God.
of providing faithful and reliable copies of ‘All the ends of the world shall remember
the Holy Scriptures for circulation among our and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of
fellow sinners throughout the world. May the nations shall worship before thee. For the
these copies of the precious Holy Scriptures kingdom is the Lord’s: and he is the governor
be greatly blessed of God to the salvation of among the nations’ (Psalm 22.27-28).
Following the recent departure of Andrew Clarke, formerly the Society’s Sales,
Development & Grants Manager, we would like to inform our supporters and
friends that all matters relating to the Society’s Diamond Jubilee Bible project and
other broader sales initiatives should be addressed to the Society’s Operations
Director, Mr David Larlham.
TBS Telephone Numbers
Several months ago we found Sales and Grants 8417-8860/8862/8863
it necessary to replace our Warehouse 8417-8868/8869
old, worn telephones with
a new telephone system.
This change has produced Staff Members:
several benefits, including Debra Anderson 8417-8874
providing departments and
David Broome 8417-8851
staff members with direct dial numbers.
Therefore, along with calling through Ian Docksey 8417-8879
our normal number [phone], John Edwards 8417-8877
you may dial direct to the following Deborah Field 8417-8872
departments or staff members. Please
James Galbraith 8417-8860
preface the numbers below with 020 in
the UK, and with international dialling Gary Hayes 8417-8869
codes and 44-20 from outside the UK. Philip Hopkins 8417-8873
Peter Hughes 8417-8861
Departments:
David Larlham 8417-8857/8864
Editorial 8417-8874
Louise Lynch 8417-8863
Facilities 8417-8879
Anne Newman 8417-8862
Finance and Supporters
David Orpen 8417-8852
8417-8854
Katherine Pulman 8417-8871
Operations 8417-8857
Michael Wade 8417-8853
Resources 8417-8854
Mark Wilson 8417-8854
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Issue Number: 599 – April to June 2012
Noah’s
Altar of
Thanksgiving
By the Rev. G. Hamstra
a Vice-President of the Society
And Noah builded renewed token of God’s goodness. For the
first time in twelve months they put their
an altar unto the feet on the soft green grass. They noticed
the birds enjoying new liberty and
LORD building their nests. The other animals
likewise found or made their new homes.
Genesis 8.20 For Noah and his descendants there was
so much to discover and to do. Just think
of the immediate need of building homes
for their families. Gardens and vineyards
It was a most remarkable day for
needed to be cultivated. Many of the
Noah and his family when at God’s
animals required human care. Noah,
command they left the ark. During
as the head of a new humanity, and his
the most awesome and destructive
sons as his assistants, had a challenging
catastrophe in the history of mankind,
mission to fulfill.
the ark had served as their gracious and
protective abode. Leaving this home of Noah’s chief concern, however, was
mercy, they entered an empty world, not the advancement of his family’s
laid bare by the judgments of the Lord. immediate needs. The very first task the
As they looked around at a rapidly godly man undertook was the erection
rejuvenating earth, they observed many a of an altar to the Lord. How appropriate
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Trinitarian Bible Society – Quarterly Record
mercy afforded to him and to his family.
was this beginning! The Lord is so worthy
In distinction from all who vanished in
to receive the first and highest place in
the waves of God’s displeasure, Noah
our affections. We owe our deepest praise
and his family had been rescued by the
and gratitude to the Lord, especially in
Lord. They could not claim their own
the light of His priceless mercies and
attainments as the reason for this special
bountiful provisions.
deliverance. That they were spared was
At the sacred altar Noah bent the knee in only because Noah had found grace in
worship and adoration. Here he offered the sight of God. Who had ever greater
the sacrifice of thanksgiving for the occasion to render thanksgiving to the
deliverance from the storms of God’s Lord than Noah?
judgments, and for the refuge in the
In building an altar to the Lord (the
ark. At the same altar Noah came before
first altar mentioned in the Bible),
the Lord in prayer and supplication.
Noah was motivated by the deepest
He petitioned the Most High for His
religious principles. Noah possessed a
blessings on his family’s future on the
precious treasure: he enjoyed a living
renewed earth. Moreover, the offering
relationship with the Lord. Like his
was also an expression of faith and
ancestor Enoch, Noah walked with
confidence in the Lord’s providing care. God; like his descendant Abraham, the
Lord was Noah’s Shield and exceeding
Before the flood, Noah, as the preacher
great Reward. That genuine bond of
of righteousness, exemplified unwavering
grace and fellowship was the secret of
obedience to his divine calling. Now,
Noah’s approach to God. The erection
at the altar, where he and his family
of this altar was therefore much more
rendered praise and gratitude to the Lord,
than a mere formal acknowledgement
Noah presented an example of genuine
of the Lord’s goodness. The Lord meant
thanksgiving.
everything to Noah. Resembling the
Noah was deeply aware of the faithfulness psalmist, Noah could say, ‘Whom have
of God, so wondrously displayed in the I in heaven but thee? and there is none
Mount Ararat
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