DISPENSATIONAL TRUTH
The term dispensation is mentioned four times in the
Scriptures. Each passage is clear that God is dispensing something new and
different fro all others (I Corinthians 9: 17; Ephesians 1: 10, 3: 2; Colossians
1: 25). God revealed to us through Paul our Apostle how He was dispensing His Grace
to all men by making a free Salvation available to believers in Christ Jesus. Grace
is in contrast with the Dispensation of the Law where God gave mainly Law although
Grace can be found in every dispensation. Grace itself is dispensed and is not necessarily a period of time, the
"Grace of God (Ephesians 3: 2). Under the Law obedience was a demand and
any violation of it meant death (Galatians 3: 10-13). In this Dispensation of Grace, believers are
not to obey the Law but receive Christ Jesus to be saved.
Accurate knowledge
of Dispensations protects believers from receiving false doctrines and
practices. Knowledge of Dispensations and understanding that the Law system,
will allow the Grace Age believers to know that animal sacrifices, tithes and
offerings are not rituals for the Church that Christ Jesus is building,
although the church of man has adding what they want from the Law and are
running it in the ground. Prominent dispensational teachers include writers
such as Isaac Watts, Darby, C.I. Scofield, Lewis Sperry Chafer and Charles
Ryrie. The doctrine of Dispensationalism was perfected over the years based on
God dealing with different peoples at different times; and in different ways. What
result from having this knowledge are two factors. The first is:
Ø
Truth,
and
Ø
Having
the ability to discern differences between Old Testament teachings and teachings under the New Testament or simply,
Law and Grace
The truth is Dispensations is not taught in man’s church because it
expose the errors that is prevalent in their teachings, showing that man does
not have any authority to take a thing from out of the Old Testament, and make
it a doctrine for the New Testament. Each dispensation brings forth a new
administration and nothing is supposed to go from one dispensation into another,
not:
Ø Tithes
Ø Not dietary restrictions, or
Ø The Sabbath Day practices
The persons doing these things do so knowing what was required of Israel
is not commendable under Grace. Understanding the seven
dispensations is necessary to rightly divide the Word of God. Everything
written in the Bible is written for our learning, not for our application. The
ten commandments, the earthly promises and blessings for obedience, and the
warnings that were given to Israel under the Dispensation of Law are not
applicable to believes today, and do not apply to the Christian Church Christ
is building in this Dispensation of Grace. We are not under any portion of the
Law, but under Grace. Instructions that were given to Adam and Eve do not apply
to Grace, dietary restrictions given by God to Israel do not apply to believers
under Grace (Romans 6: 14).
Believers have their own Apostle under Grace, and to be Biblically correct,
Grace Age believers are to follow the teachings of the Apostle Paul. These are
the teachings that apply to the Church in this Dispensation of Grace.
The Bible divides time into seven
unique and individual dispensations beginning from the creation of man, up to the revealing
of the New Heaven and New Earth.1 The seven dispensations are the
workings of God’s overall Eternal
purpose, and plan for man.2 These dispensational periods mark
God’s methods of dealing with mankind. Each of the dispensations brought on new
responsibilities for man of that day. Each of the previous dispensations all
ended in failures all bringing about God’s judgment. The coming seven year Tribulation is not
counted as a dispensation. It is during this time, that God picks up where He
left off with the Jews and finishes what He started with them.
Dispensations
are a period of stewardship; and stewardship is a time of testing. During these
times man is tested by God. Salvation in every dispensation has been by God’s
Grace, which is man receiving an un-earned, un-deserved gift that is given and
received by faith.4 Five of the dispensations have been
fulfilled already, and we are living in the sixth Dispensation of Grace; moving
very rapidly towards its close, and entrance of the seventh and last
dispensation; the thousand years Millennium.
The following are the seven dispensations according to Scripture. The first
dispensation was the Adamic
Dispensation, which commenced from the Creation of earth to the fall of man
and it is known as the Dispensation of
Innocence. This
Dispensation of Innocence extended from the creation of Adam; up to his and Eve’s
expulsion from the Garden. The dispensation of man’s innocence
ended with the first failure of man, and Adam and his wife’s expulsion from the
Garden of Eden.5 Their responsibility under the Dispensation of
Innocence while in the Garden was to:
Ø
Stay
away from the tree of knowledge in the Garden and not to eat its forbidden fruit
(Genesis 1: 26-28, 2: 15-17)
Ø
Their
failure was they did not listen to God and ate the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:
1-6, 22-24)
Ø
Their
judgment was the curse of spiritual and physical death (Genesis 3: 6-19)
When Adam was created, he was created
innocent and ignorant of good and evil, and when he was placed in the Garden of
Eden he was perfect. The second dispensation was
the Dispensation of Conscience,
which extended from the time of the fall of
man, to Noah and the Great Universal Flood. Sin’s judgment that was placed on
Adam pasted to all humanity that followed, transferring to them the sin
consciousness and knowledge of good
and evil; which
gave conscience a basis for right moral judgment, birthing the
conscience, giving the basis for every man to discern right and wrong. Humanity
came under the responsibility to do good and to shun evil. The end result of
the Dispensation of Conscience,
commencing from Eden to Noah and the Great Universal Flood was that, “The earth
was depraved and putrid in God’s sight, and the land was filled with violence
(desecration, infringement, outrage, assault, and lust for power). And God
looked upon the world and saw how degenerate, debased, and vicious it was, for
all humanity had corrupted their way upon the earth and lost their true
direction”. With that failure, God closed the second Dispensation of Conscience with the judgment of the Great Universal Flood. Sometime
before the Great Flood two men
were found pleasing to God. These two men were:
Ø
Elijah,
and
Ø
Enoch
Both of these men, Elijah and Enoch
were translated to Heaven
without experiencing death.6 During the Dispensation of Conscience, it was a renegade society. At which
time there was no institution of Government, and no Laws were in place to
govern man’s behavior, it was a man ruled government of rebels. Out of the
judgment of the Great Flood,
God saved eight people to whom He gave power to govern. Noah and his
descendants were given that responsibility after the Ark landed.7
Ø
Their
responsibility was to do good and offer blood sacrifices to God (Genesis 3: 5,
7, 22, 4: 4)
Ø
Their
failure was their continued wickedness, and (Genesis 6: 5, 11-12)
Ø
Their
judgment was the Universal Flood
destroying man (Genesis 6: 7, 13, 7: 11-24)
The
Great Flood terminated the Dispensation
of Conscience and all things in it, inaugurating the Dispensation of Human Government, which was the third dispensation also
known as the Noahic Dispensation. This dispensation began with Noah going through
to Abraham being the Dispensation of
Human Government. Each
dispensation brought in a new administration. Under this on, man was given
authority over the earth and this authority resulted in man’s attempt to become
independent of God. The Dispensation of Human
Government failed and was closed in judgment with God confusing the languages at the Tower of Babel.8
Ø
Their
responsibility was to scatter and multiply (Genesis. 8: 15-22, 9: 1-7)
Ø
Their
failure was their disobedience to God’s order to scatter, they did not scatter
(Genesis 11: 1-4)
Ø
Their
judgment brought in the confusion of languages (Genesis 11: 5-9)
The fourth was the Dispensation
of Promise. This dispensation
was from Abraham, to the Law of Moses. Man was under Promises from God, which was the foundation of the nation of
Israel.9 From out of the dispersed descendants of Babel, God called Abram, with whom He entered into
Covenant. Most of the promises God made to Abram and his descendants were conditional,
based upon the faithfulness and obedience of the Israelites. God called Abram and He entered into Covenant with him.
These promises have either been or will be fulfilled in the future. Every one
of the conditions were violated by Israel, and the Dispensation of Promise
resulted in the failure of Israel; closing in judgment of Egyptian bondage. Out of the dispensation of Promise, God called the man Moses to lead His
people. God gave him the Law to administer to the Nation of Israel terminating
the Dispensation of Promise - ushering in the next Dispensation of Law.10The Book of Genesis opens
with inspiring words that say, “In the beginning God created,” and ironically,
it closes with the words, “In a coffin
in Egypt” (Genesis 12: 1-3; 13: 14-17; 15: 5; 26: 3; 28: 12-13; Exodus 1:
13-14). Under the dispensation of Promise:
Ø
Their
responsibility was to dwell in the land of Canaan (Genesis 12: 1-7)
Ø
Their
failure was they did not go to Canaan, but dwelt in Egypt (Genesis 12: 10;
Genesis 46: 6)
Ø
Their
Judgment was Egyptian bondage
(Genesis 1: 8-14)
The fifth dispensation began from the Law of Moses to the First Advent
of Christ Jesus beginning the Dispensation
of the Law. In the fifth
dispensation, man was under the Law. The
Grace of God came to the aid of the Jews and He redeemed His chosen people out
of the hands of their Egyptian oppressor using Moses as their deliverer. The Covenant process began in the
wilderness of Sinai. It was there that God established the Covenant of Law. As an alternative, Israel
should have humbly pleaded for God’s Grace to continued, but they
presumptuously agreed to do all that the Lord required. Their
history in the wilderness and in the land had become a long remorseless failure
because the Jews continuously violated God’s Laws. After multiplied warnings to
them from God for repentance, He tired of the multiplied rejections and their
not honoring His request, so the Covenant that He made with the Jews was
postponed and the dispensation closed in judgment. First Israel, and then
Judah, was driven out of their land into a world-wide dispersion, which
continues today.
Although many of the Jews have
returned to their homeland, out of the remnant that returned under Ezra and
Nehemiah, Christ Jesus came into the world, born of a virgin woman, birthed
under the Law, to fulfill the Law.11 It was not only the Jews who conspired to kill Christ Jesus, both
Jews and Gentiles are guilty of conspiring to crucify Him (II Kings 25: 1 -11;
Acts 2: 22-23; 7: 51-52; Romans 3: 19-20; 10: 5; Galatians 3: 10).
Ø
Their
responsibility were to keep all the Law (Exodus 19: 1-8)
Ø
Their
failure came when they broke the Law and rejected Christ their Messiah (II
Kings 17: 1-20; Matthew 27: 1-25)
Ø
Their
Judgment was worldwide dispersion, and the coming Tribulation (Deuteronomy 28:
63-66; Luke 21: 20-24; Daniel 9: 24-27)
The sixth dispensation is this time that we now live in. It began from
the death of Christ Jesus, and will go on until the time of the seven year Tribulation.
The sixth dispensation is man under Grace.
The demand of Grace was for the sacrificial death of a perfect man to satisfy the
righteous requirement of the Father as payment for sin’s debt. Because no human
born person could suffice, the Lord Christ Jesus became the perfect sin
sacrifice being one hundred percent God and one hundred percent man. He was the
sacrificial lamb that would be slaughtered as a ransom payment to redeem man
from Satan’s slave market of sin. Christ shed Blood is the avenue that allows man to return to God his Creator in righteous fellowship, when he or
she makes the choice to do so. Christ’ sacrificial death introduced and
commenced the Dispensation of Grace,
terminating the Dispensation of the Law. The word Grace means that God grants
undeserved favor to man, and with this gracious favor man receives:
Ø
Salvation
and Deliverance
Ø
Forgiveness
of sins, and
Grace is God giving righteousness to men, by and through the shed Blood of Christ Jesus instead of
requiring righteousness from man, which was the case under the Law. Salvation
through the shed Blood of Christ Jesus
is perfect and eternal. Grace is freely offered to
both Jews and Gentiles upon their acknowledgment of sin and placing their faith
and trust in Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior.13
The birth, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord, Christ Jesus
had to occur first in order to bring in the Grace Age, and the indwelling power
of the Holy Spirit to those who believe.
The predicted results of this dispensation of man under God’s Grace, is
God’s wrath and judgment being poured out upon an unbelieving world, and an
apostate church. At that judgment, there will be books opened, but the most
important book that will be opened will be the Book of Life. The Book of Life will reveal the names of all those belonging to
Christ Jesus, and the names that are not found there, will be of those who have
literally made their bed in Hell.14
An
apostate is:
Ø
Those
who has forsaken their Christian faith principles and are living their life by
the dictates of the flesh, and confines of this world
Ø
That
one who has forsaken Christ Jesus as Lord and are now serving the prince of
this world, and
Ø
That
one who has forsaken or renounced the sacred order of Christianity after
receiving it for the lies of another religion
Salvation under this Grace Age Dispensation is a sacred order, and every man and
woman born in this earthly realm must choose to enter in to it or perish. What
makes the Gospel of Grace sacred
is man surrendering his will to God placing his belief in the finished work of
Christ Jesus on the Cross. In order to receive redemption from the curse of the
Law, deliverance from the snares of Satan, and the god of this world; one must
be:
Ø
Redeemed
– bought with a price
Ø
Granted
Salvation for
Ø
Deliverance,
and
Ø
Forgiveness
of sins, to receive
The first event in the closing of this
dispensation will be the descent of the Lord from Heaven, when sleeping saints
will be raised and, together with believers at that moment living, will be caught
up “to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (I
Thessalonians 4: 16-17).
This event is called the Great Catching Away or the Rapture.16 What follows this awaited event is the final
week of Daniels prophecy which will be a brief period of seven years.17
This is the final seven years that was appointed to the Jews and will conclude
their Dispensation of Law with its judgment, but there will also be Gentiles
left behind on the earth with them that will go through this terrible time of
Tribulation. This evacuation begins the Day of the Lord’s wrath that was predicted to fall on
a rebellious world. The day of the Lord will continue up until the seventh
dispensation comes in. The day of the Lord’s wrath will be a time of great
devastation, nothing like the world has ever seen. Daniel’s 70th
week has come, closing out the unspecified time of the Church Age of Grace starting His time clock for the Jews. He
picks up where he left off with them to conclude their final seven years.19
God’s wrath is now being poured out upon a world filled with Christ’ rejecters,
and during this time the Bible says:
Ø Men will beg for mountains to fall upon
them doing whatever they can think of; just like Adam did; to hide from God’s
presence without success20
Ø Half of the world’s population will
be killed by war and those fighting it will believe that they are serving the
True God, not realizing they are being deceived, just like the church of man21
Ø Men will be scorched with fire from
the heat radiated from the sun
Ø Great earthquakes will be recurrent
Ø Hailstones weighing 100 pounds will
drop down out of Heaven falling to the earth
Ø Cities will fall down, and
The believer who has knowledge of
Dispensations can see that God had worked with the Jews under the Law and will
pick that work up again during this time of Tribulation. The Tribulation is not
a time that will be experienced by believers; believers are not appointed to
God’s wrath only the children of disobedience. He will be tying up the loose
ends by picking up where He left off with the Jews prior to the Cross of Christ.
After the Great Tribulation pass, which is the second half of the seven years
Tribulation, Christ Jesus returns to the earth for the Second time, in power
and great glory along with His saints to establish His thousand-year Kingdom of
peace on earth.18 Even then, under the perfect conditions of peace,
man will fail this test. Through out all of the past dispensations, God’s
justice will be vindicated. Failure can never be found with God, it is with
man, and God is justified in judging the choices made by every man that led to failure (Jeremiah 30: 5-7; Daniel 12: 1; Zephaniah 1: 15-18; Matthew
24: 21-22).
Ø
Our
responsibility under Grace is to receive Christ Jesus by faith and to be led by
the Holy Spirit, not the flesh (John 1: 12; Romans 8: 1-14; Ephesians 2: 8-9)
Ø
Our
failure will be that many people will reject Christ Jesus trusting in their own
works (John 5: 39-40; II Timothy 3: 1-7)
Ø
Man’s
judgment will be his or her being left behind to go through the terrible
Tribulation without having another chance for Salvation (Matthew 24: 21;
Revelation 6: 15-17)
After the Tribulation, the personal Second Coming of our Lord takes place;
His feet will land firmly on the Mt of Olives splitting it in two. He returns
to the earth in power and great glory to defeat His enemies and the enemies of
Israel, His chosen. After which He introduce the seventh and last dispensation,
the Millennium (Matthew 25: 31-46; 24: 29- 30). The Millennium is also known as the Kingdom Restoration of Israel.23
The seat of Christ’s Power will be centered in Jerusalem, and the saints of
this Grace Age Dispensation
will be associated with Him in His glory.24 After the thousand-year reign of Christ is
complete, Satan will be liberated for a short time.25
Upon his release, he will find that the hearts of men is still geared towards
evil. He will recruit many at that time, leading them to their doom, and when
it is all over, he is cast into the Lake
of Fire where the beast and the false prophet are.26
This Grace Dispensation closes with failure and judgment just like all the
others. Man under Grace was given responsibilities which were:
Ø
To
obey and worship Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior (Isaiah 11: 3-5; Zechariah 14:
9, 16)
Ø
Their
failure will be their final rebellion and rejection of Christ (Revelation 20:
7-9)
Ø
Their
judgment will be a sentenced to Eternal
Hell in the Lake of Fire (Revelation
20: 11-15; II Thessalonians 15: 1-4)
“Jesus answered and said unto them, this is
the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent” (John 6: 29). “Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath Everlasting Life” (John 6:
47). "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and
believeth on Him that sent Me, hath Everlasting Life, and shall not come into
condemnation; but is passed from death unto Life" (John 5: 24). “My sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them Eternal
Life; and they shall never perish” (John 10: 27-28). “For by Grace are ye saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works,
lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2: 8-9).
The seventh dispensation is the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times.
This dispensation will begin at the Second coming of Christ Jesus, going
through the thousand years Millennium. During the thousand year’s millennium
Christ sets up His kingdom on earth. This kingdom is man living under the personal reign of Christ Jesus. The seat of Christ power will be centered in Jerusalem,
and the saints, including those saved in the Dispensation of Grace, will be
associated with Him in His glory (Isaiah 2: 1-4; 11; Acts 15: 14-17; Revelation
19: 11-21; 20: 1-6). Satan will be incarcerated for that time, and it
will be a peaceful thousand years. When the thousand years is completed Satan
will be released and he will find that some of earth dwellers still have a
wicked heart that is geared towards evil. Because of the existence of evil in man, it will be easy for him to gather the nations to
battle against the Lord and His saints, and after their defeat this last
dispensation closes, like all the others, in judgment.
The Great White Throne Judgment
is now set and the wicked dead are raised for their day of accountability. They
will all stand before the God of Heaven and earth for righteous judgment. All
evil is annulated, Christ Jesus has separated the sheep from the goats, and those
found worthy when judged will go on into the Eternal state to enjoy the New
Earth that was prepared for them, ending the Dispensation of the Fullness of
Times. The Eternal state begins with the New Heaven
and New Earth coming in as predicted (Revelation 20: 3, 7-15; 21-22). What
each dispensation shows, is the Truth that we should already know, that men
are:
Ø
Hopeless
in the world
Ø
Sinful
from birth, and
Ø
Lost
forever without God
After which comes the destruction of this old earth and Heaven and the New Heaven and New Earth comes in as predicted in
the Word of God.27 Please do not be deceived into
thinking that God’s highest priority is to save man, His highest purpose is to
Glorify Himself and to be glorified by those He has saved. A clear understanding of
Dispensations will without a doubt help our church practice, but the church of
man refuses to teach it to the people leaving them in ignorance. Knowledge of dispensations
help believers to understand that an ordained priesthood with special garments,
over-elaborate buildings, altars, incense and repeated sacrifices to God are
not for the Church Christ is building today, we as believers are the Church
Christ is building.
Because of Christ Jesus sacrifice we
have freedom to follow the New Testament pattern for the Church as the
spiritual house that Christ is building, not man. Learning dispensational truth helps
believers to understand and distinguish the differences between the spiritual
and the earthly. As a spiritual people, we don’t sing about the New Jerusalem
or the King; these are terms that are specific to the Jewish economy. Christ
Jesus accomplished all that had to be done for the redemption of those who love
and believe Him. He is our Lord and Savior, our Redeemer, and the Jews soon
coming king. Taking a dispensational approach to Bible study means that we can
see God dealing in different ways, at different times with different people.
Knowledge of dispensations help believers distinguish the differences between
Law and Grace and with this knowledge they learn not to mix them together.
Understanding the Bible also means having Scriptural knowledge of Covenant
Theology; because the church of man often blends Israel’s truth from under the
Law together with Christ’ Church’s Doctrine recorded by the Apostle Paul under
Grace, making it a church of man, not the Church of Christ. The Truth is, God
was dealing with Israel as His chosen nation, that relationship has been placed
on hold, and He is dealing now with the spiritual Church Christ Jesus is
building, and everyone who thinks they are a part of it better be making their calling and election
sure in Truth.
1(Genesis 1: 1; Revelation 21: 1;
Ephesians 2: 7, 3: 2)
2(Ephesians 1: 9-10)
4(Romans 3: 10, 23;6; 23; Hebrews 11:
4; Ephesians 2: 8-9)
5(Genesis 2: 7)
6(II Kings 2: 9-12; Genesis 5: 24;
Hebrews 11: 5)
10(Exodus 19: 1-8)
11(Luke 2: 11; Matthew 27: 50-51)
12(I Corinthians 1: 4)
13(John 6: 29, 47, 5: 24; Ephesians 2:
8-9)
14(II Thessalonians 2: 7-12; Revelation
20: 12)
15(Romans 10: 9-10)
16(I Thessalonians 4: 16-17; John 14:
1-3)
17(Jeremiah 30: 5-7; Daniel 12: 1;
Zephaniah 1: 15-18; Matthew 24: 21-22)
19(Daniel 9)
20(Revelation 6: 12-17)
21(Revelation 6: 4, 8, 9: 15-18)
22(Matthew 24: 29-30; Revelation 16:
8-9, 18-21, 19: 11-20: 6; Jude 14-15)
23(Ezekiel 36: 25-38)
24(Isaiah 2: 1-4; 11; Acts 15: 14-17;
Revelation 19: 11-21; 20: 1-6)
25(Revelation 20: 2-3, 7-15)
26(Revelation 19: 20, 20: 10)
27(II Peter 3: 10-13; Revelation 21: 1;
I Corinthians 2: 9)
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