The Dispensations / Part 2

Series – November 2017 – Grace & Truth Magazine

The Dispensations / Part Two
Keywords And The Believers’ Hope

In last month’s Series article we looked at the seven days of creation and the seven Feasts of the L ORD . We saw some points about the progression and succession of the dispensations while recognizing their ultimate purpose is to introduce Christ and His reign.

A Few Notes On The Seven Dispensations
Many books have been written about this topic, but we will only mention a few points. A literal understanding and interpretation of Scripture according to God’s directions is essential for our studies (2 Tim. 3:16).

God has dealt with His people in different ways throughout history, and in the process He revealed something of Himself. Generally speaking, dispensations began with an agreement, or covenant, between God and man. Man would soon fail, ending the relationship and requiring a judgment from God. In contrast, the new covenant will have no failure because the Lord Jesus Christ met all of its requirements to the glory of God.

The successive dispensations are part of God’s master plan, and they contain elements that will be fully worked out in the coming millennium under Christ’s leadership and control (see Eph. 1:10). This is all to the praise of God and to His glory.

Let’s consider briefly each dispensation, marked by a keyword, and their characteristic elements to be displayed during Christ’s coming public reign:

1. Innocence. In the time between creation and the fall, God interacted freely and personally with man. Man was created immortal, and while he had the power of choice he did not have a sin nature. God placed Adam and Eve in His garden and gave them only one restriction: not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2). They violated His command, and God expelled them from the garden (Gen. 3). Adam, Eve and the Serpent were all judged, and creation was cursed as a result of sin having entered the world. Yet, God foresaw all this and used man’s failure to ultimately introduce a better order of things through Christ’s coming and His sacrifice, after 4,000 years of human failure. In the millennium the curse will be removed, and unprecedented blessings will characterize God’s rule. It will be the real “new age,” which Christ will introduce, free of counterfeits and in tune with God’s holiness and righteousness.

2. Conscience. Between Adam and Eve’s fall and Noah’s flood, God allowed man’s conscience to rule without direct divine interference. Because of man’s newly acquired sin nature (Gen. 3), the result was that “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (6:5 KJV). After repeated warnings, the flood destroyed the human race, except for Noah and his immediate family (6:8, 7:7,13). Under Christ’s coming reign, man’s conscience will be in tune with God. Israel and the nations will fear Him while rebels will be judged quickly – within 24 hours (Ps. 101:8 NASB).

3. Human Government. From Noah to the Tower of Babel, God led man to establish his first system of human government (Gen. 9:1-17). Noah failed as he got drunk, and the people disobeyed God’s commandment to go forth and replenish the earth. Instead, they built a great city and tower to protect themselves from another flood (11:1-8). They gave themselves to idolatry and, in His discipline, God gave them over to it (see Rom. 1:18-32), to confusion and distrust. The people were scattered then throughout the world. In the world to come God’s covenant with Noah will still be honored.

4. Promise. God called Abraham out of idolatry and set him and his descendants apart as His “chosen people,” promising Abraham and Sarah a son through whom He would bless the world. Instead of waiting on God, they produced a son of their own doing: Ishmael. When God gave them the son He had promised, Isaac, Abraham and Sarah sent Ishmael away, starting the animosity between Ishmael (Arabs) and Isaac (Jews) that continues to this day. In the fullness of time, our Lord Jesus came, the true Isaac. He lived, died and rose again, introducing something entirely new: the Church of the living God. During the millennium, without setting aside God’s promises for Israel (Isa. 60-66; Zech. 14), the Church will reign with Christ from heaven (Rev. 21:9-22:6) and Israel will be a blessing to the nations (Ps. 2, 8, 72).

5. Law. After God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, He gave Moses the Ten Commandments and offered Israel the land He had promised to Abraham – if they would obey. However, their history was 2,000 years of failure, disobedience and rebellion, to the point of eventually rejecting their own Messiah. The law could not bring perfection or fulfill God’s promises. God expelled Israel from their land and dispersed them throughout the world. The millennium will see Israel restored to God, in the land belonging to Him that He promised to them, and under His law (Heb. 8:10-13).

6. Grace. The church age represents God’s grace. No longer requiring that righteousness be gained through obeying the law, God now declares righteous every repentant sinner who believes. This is by grace, through faith, on the basis of the finished work of the Lord Jesus, bringing eternal blessing and a place in His own house to all who accept it. Surely, this is the most amazing gift ever bestowed, free for the asking. By the end of this period of grace, sadly, most people will have rejected God’s gift, choosing instead to live on their own terms. Some say that God doesn’t exist, or if He does He’ll allow them into His kingdom anyway. However, the rapture can take place any time: Are you ready? Those who have accepted His gift of grace, through faith, will be safe with Him in heaven, whereas the rest will go through the most severe time of judgment ever seen on this earth.

7. Kingdom. The coming 1,000-year reign of the Lord, also known as the millennium, will start with Satan being bound and all unbelievers killed – to be condemned later at the great white throne. The curse will be removed and God will dwell in the midst of His people. The public conditions of the millennium represent a moral order that God desires to be displayed in our lives in the day of grace.

A Real Hope
Some believe that the Church started with Adam and that today’s believers should not live in the expectation of our Lord’s imminent coming for His redeemed ones. These people say that Christians should preach the gospel worldwide – which is true – and improve the world to prepare for the Lord’s reign – which is not true. Ultimately, there will be the final day of judgment for everyone. However, Christ is our blessed Hope, and instead of waiting for judgment we expect His coming and the rapture.

Some who do not have this hope but do confess Christ think they already live in the millennium and believe that the Church will pass through the great tribulation and then all will face God’s final judgment at the end of time. Many also believe that the Church has replaced Israel. However, the Word of God does not teach these things! We looked at some of these perceptions in the December 2016 Grace & Truth Magazine.

The Efforts Of The Enemy And Our Resources
The believers who come to Him from among the Jews and Judaism have the same privileges as those called out from among the nations (Eph. 2:11-22). However, in various ways the enemy has tried – and still tries – to bring all believers under his control, attempting to take away the liberty of sonship under Christ’s leadership. Satan schemes to negatively impact their lives, ministry and worship in an effort to reduce their relationship with the Lord to mere religion. As an example, we see this in Galatians, probably the first of Paul’s 13 or 14 letters.

However, all this was foreseen by God, and the Lord Jesus spoke about these things in some of His parables, as we hope to briefly consider later. The enemy’s efforts, repeated in various ways and from generation to generation, resulted in many believers being brought into bondage just as happened with Israel on a number of occasions (see the book of Judges for some examples). Therefore, every new generation of believers must learn the same lessons that the first generation had to learn, as Paul instructed Timothy (2 Tim. 2:1-2).

In our day while God has set aside Israel temporarily – not forever (see Rom. 11) – the Church is the vessel of God’s testimony, “sailing” as it were over the waters of this world. How important it is, therefore, to sail with the Lord, just as the disciples did in the Gospels and as Peter, John, Paul and the other apostles did later. The Church is not of this world, but is in it, and is a testimony to it as long as the water of the world stays out of the ship.

Acts shows the heavenly origin and destiny of the Church, and the Epistles present the doctrine of the position and calling of the Church as linked with the glorified Man in heaven. The seven days of creation and the seven Feasts of the LORD also provide important lessons for the believers who live in the present period of grace (1 Cor. 10:1-13).

Looking at God’s dealings with the human race, we see how man always fails, in sharp contrast to the Man of God’s choosing who never failed and who became our Redeemer. During the day of grace in which we live, man is tested in a new way, but even there he fails. This makes it all the more vital for us to use the resources we have in the One who never failed and who has given us His Spirit (Jn. 14-16).

Important Passages
Besides God’s plan contained in the days of creation and in the Feasts of the LORD, although with different emphases, we will find that the seven parables in Matthew 13 show God’s plans and ways with Israel, the Church and the nations. There are connections between them and the Lord’s messages in Revelation 2-3, in which He encourages the believers of the age of grace to be true overcomers, faithful to Christ, instead of allowing Satan and this world to influence them. We hope to look at these matters in upcoming issues, as the Lord wills.

By Alfred Bouter

Look for Part 3 of this Series next month.