Transcript
A drugs squad officer stopped at a farm and talked with an old farmer. He told the farmer, “I need to inspect your farm for illegally grown drugs.”
The farmer said, “Okay, but don’t go in that field over there,” as he pointed out the location. The drugs squad officer verbally exploded saying, “Mister, I have the authority of the Government with me!”
Reaching into his rear trouser pocket, he removed his badge and proudly displayed it to the farmer. “See this badge?! This badge means I am allowed to go wherever I wish, on any land!! No questions asked or answers given!! Have I made myself clear, do you understand?!!”
The old farmer nodded politely, apologized, and went about his chores. A short time later, the old farmer heard loud screams, looked up, and saw the officer running for his life, being chased by the farmer’s big ferocious-looking bull.
With every step the bull was gaining ground on the officer, and it seemed likely that he’d sure enough get gored before he reached safety. The officer was clearly terrified.
The old farmer threw down his tools, ran to the fence and shouted at the top of his lungs: “Your badge, show him your BADGE!”
That bull was not under the law, and he did not respect the badge! Today, we are not under the law of Moses because God changed His dealings with mankind.
To properly understand God’s Word, we must mark and note the changes in God’s dispensations. Understanding the Bible dispensationally is key to its correct interpretation and application and knowing what God is doing today.
In doing so, it brings peace and joy to our lives as we live according to God’s direct will for us under grace and by the promises and instructions written to us, the Church, the Body of Christ.
Ephesians 3:1-2: “For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward.”
The term “dispensation” is not a made-up, manufactured term by man. It comes directly from the Bible itself. In other translations, the word “dispensation” is translated as a stewardship or administration.
These are not bad ways to understand what a dispensation is, because each dispensation does represent a specific administration or way that God deals with humanity, and it is a specific stewardship under which man has responsibility to follow and obey God’s will.
Paul teaches here that a “dispensation” of God’s grace had been given to him directly by Christ. A dispensation has been defined as “A stage in the progressive revelation of God constituting a distinctive stewardship or rule of life.”
The term “dispensation” is translated from the Greek word: oikonomia. Oikos means “house.” And “nomos” means “law.” And when we put this Greek term together it means house law or house management. So the term “dispensation” speaks of the rule of a household.
Every household has rules. As children grow up, they know that there are rules for their home. The rules in one house may differ from those in another home. Some rules might be similar or the same. But what’s important is that the children obey and abide by the rules of their own home.
Throughout history and for each dispensation, through a specific revelation, God dispensed a new set of house rules that needed to be followed and were the responsibility of those who lived under them to carry out and obey.
Some of the house rules in a dispensation were similar. However, if new instructions were given that differed from the previous dispensation, people were responsible for carrying out the instructions within the dispensation under which they were currently living.
Take food for example. At first, in the dispensation of innocence, God gave instructions to Adam and Eve regarding what they could eat. God commanded Adam and Eve to be vegetarians and that they could eat herbs and fruits only.
This instruction to Adam and Eve to eat only herbs and fruit stood for approximately 1500 years. However, as you move forward, God revealed His will and changed something.
Following the worldwide flood, as the dispensation of human government began, God commanded Noah that he could eat any and every kind of moving, living thing, along with the vegetables and fruit. God added meat, fowl, and fish to the vegetables and fruit that man already was allowed to eat. This stood for about 1000 years.
Later still, God revealed the Law to Moses. And within the dispensation of the law, God revealed to Moses that only certain animals, birds, and seafood were allowed to be eaten. Some were clean and could be eaten, while others were unclean and forbidden. This instruction to Moses stood for about 1500 years.
Then God revealed to the Apostle Paul His will and instructions for the dispensation grace, and it was revealed to Paul that all animals, birds, and seafood are permitted by the Lord to be eaten as food. Nothing is forbidden. We may freely eat all things. For the past 2000 years, this has been true and remains true to this moment.
It is impossible to obey all of these different commands at the same time. So it’s imperative to determine which commands God would have us obey today.
Many mistakenly attempt to live by the instructions meant for a different time and for another people within a previous dispensation. This leads to a misapplication of God’s Word to their lives.
Like with the subject of food, within the dispensations, other commands were given which were valid at the time given, but are not for us today. All Scripture is profitable and is for our learning, but not all Scripture is for our direct obedience today.
You can see the word “dispense” in the word “dispensation.” In God’s Word, it can be demonstrated that at different times in history God DISPENSED to mankind a distinct administration and stewardship, which then became man’s “house rules.” This was what was to govern mankind to turn from sin and unrighteousness and to live for God.
Within our current dispensation of grace, God has given us a unique set of instructions for us to live by today that is different from other dispensations.
The house rules for the Church today are found in Paul’s epistles, in the revelation which was revealed to him by the risen, exalted Lord Jesus Christ.
To Paul, Christ revealed a dispensation whose house rule, and rule of life, is based upon and which functions according to grace. In this administration, God deals with humanity in grace. We are saved by grace, and we are blessed richly in Christ by grace.
We have a stewardship before God to allow our lives to be governed and guided by His grace and to stand for and proclaim the riches of God’s grace to others.
God is indeed immutable and He never changes. In Malachi 3:6, God said, “For I am the Lord, I change not.”
God, in His nature and attributes, never changes; however, without in any way affecting His unchanging character, at different times and stages in history, according to His will, God’s methods of dealing with mankind have changed, and God dispensed to mankind a new, different, and distinct rule of life.
And I’d like to demonstrate this in the remainder of this message.
The following is a dispensational chart that illustrates the order in which the dispensations were revealed in God’s Word. There are varying opinions, but I believe the Scriptures fall into eight dispensations: (1) Innocence, (2) Conscience, (3) Human Government, (4) Promise, (5) Law, (6) Grace, (7) Kingdom, and (8) Fullness of Times.
Examining Scripture through the lens of the dispensations provides a comprehensive view of God’s plans and purposes for mankind and for both heaven and the earth.
The course of each dispensation follows the same pattern. First, God dispenses and makes known His will to man. Second, man is responsible to obey God’s will. Third, we see man’s failure. And fourth, God judges and His judgment is carried out.
First, there was the Dispensation of Innocence. After man was created, God dealt with man in his innocence. Man did not know good from evil. He knew only good.
God dispensed to man that his responsibility was to care for the garden, to be fruitful and multiply, and to abstain from partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God warned of the punishment of death for disobedience.
Man’s failure came when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, resulting in the entrance of sin and death (Gen. 3:6).
Man was no longer perfect and innocent after the fall. God’s judgment was to pronounce the curse and banish Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.
Second, came the Dispensation of Conscience. With the entrance of sin when Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they then became aware of good and evil. And thus, God dispensed conscience.
Now conscience was to govern man. Knowing right from wrong, and having the inner sense of guilt that fell upon man when he did sin or contemplated doing wrong, was to be a deterrent to keep man from sin and unrighteousness.
From the basis of one’s conscience, God’s will for man was for him to make proper moral judgments, and his responsibility was to do good and refrain from evil.
God also dispensed to man at this time the responsibility to bring a blood sacrifice to be accepted by Him (Gen. 4:1-4).
Man’s failure came when violence filled the earth and man refused to heed their conscience (Gen. 6:13). During this dispensation, man became so wicked that “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
God’s judgment of the violence that filled the earth was the worldwide flood.
Third, came the Dispensation of Human Government: Because of the violence and bloodshed that had prevailed before the flood, God next dispensed human government.
To deter sin and wickedness, God dispensed that man was now to govern, putting into the hands of man the responsibility to establish and enforce laws that are in accordance with the righteous standard of God and to punish the evildoers.
God put the responsibility for capital punishment in man’s hands, as He told Noah following the flood, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man” (Gen. 9:6).
Man was given the right and authority by God to make judgments and to inflict punishment when laws concerning evil and wickedness were not obeyed.
God also dispensed His will that man should be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.
Man’s failure came when they became lifted up with pride and they united together, and desired to make “a name” for themselves and built the tower of Babel (Gen. 11), doing so in defiance against God’s will to fill the earth.
God’s judgment was to confuse their language and scatter mankind all over the world.
Fourth, came the Dispensation of Promise: After God scattered the people over the world and they became their own nations, He raised up a nation. And out of the dispersed descendants of the builders of Babel, God called one man, Abram.
God dispensed a promise to Abraham that He would make of him a great nation, and all families of the earth would be blessed through his seed (Gen. 12:1-3).
And God promised him a great land, “all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession” (Gen. 17:8), or the Promised Land.
God dispensed that circumcision was mandatory as a seal of the covenant made with Abraham (Gen. 17:9-14). Abraham’s descendants were responsible to obey this and to trust God to fulfill His promise.
Man’s failure came when Abraham’s descendants continually failed to trust God, and they forsook the land of promise when Jacob and his family moved to Egypt and stayed there. God’s judgment was to allow Israel to become slaves in Egypt and to remain there for 400 years.
Fifth, came the Dispensation of the Law: After God powerfully and miraculously delivered Israel from Egypt, He dispensed the Law to Moses at Mount Sinai to give to Israel. God revealed that Israel was responsible to keep all of it, all 613 commandments.
God gave Israel His righteous standard to follow and for it to govern their lives.
Under this conditional covenant, the blessings of God were realized if Israel obeyed and kept the law. But if they disobeyed God’s law, they were cursed.
Man’s failure came from their unbelief, breaking and forsaking of the law, their murmuring, and idol worship.
God’s judgments in this dispensation came in the form of the Assyrian Captivity, which resulted in the ten northern tribes being taken away out of the land. And later, the Babylonian Captivity, which resulted in the exile of the two southern tribes.
Under the law, Israel rejected God the Father through their idolatry and desire for a king to rule over them. When Christ came to Israel and ministered under the law, they rejected God’s Son and had Him crucified. And after the Spirit came to Israel at Pentecost, they rejected the ministry of the Holy Spirit and stoned a man full of the Spirit, Stephen, with their own hands.
And this was three strikes and you’re out! The entire Godhead was rejected by Israel. And God’s judgment was set to fall.
Next on God’s timetable, according to prophecy, was the judgment of Daniel’s 70th week and the dispensation of the kingdom. But God had a secret.
Instead of bringing in the judgment of the 7-year Tribulation period, followed by the 1000-year kingdom, God temporarily suspended His program with Israel, set Israel aside in belief, and began a dispensation that had been hidden in the mind and heart of God.
Sixth, is the Dispensation of Grace: The Dispensation of Grace was an absolute secret, kept secret since the world began. It was never prophesied or foretold.
With Israel set aside in unbelief, God, in His grace, turned to the nations to have a program with the Gentiles. Thus, God raised up the chief of sinners, Paul, saved him by His grace, and called him to be the Apostle of the Gentiles.
To Paul, Christ revealed this dispensation of grace; to him was made known the message of grace and the will of God for this dispensation. To Paul was revealed the new creation that was brought into existence for this dispensation, called the Church, the Body of Christ, made up of all who believe the gospel of grace, both Jew and Gentile.
The dispensation of grace is the dispensation in which we currently live. And being called the dispensation of the grace of God teaches that grace is the house rule for today. Grace is what governs mankind in this age, and by grace is how we are to live.
Grace reigns in God’s dealings with man today, and Paul describes “grace” today as reigning on a throne as king!
Romans 5:20,21 states, “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Grace appears no later than the second sentence in every one of Paul’s epistles, where we learn that from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, God is declaring “grace” today! God is giving all people everywhere the opportunity to be saved by His grace thru faith.
While the Gospels and Acts take up twice as much space in our Bible as the epistles of Paul, the word “grace” in the original appears only 27 times in the Gospels and Acts, but is used over 100 times in Paul’s epistles. In Acts, the word grace is found in the original 4 times before Paul, and 12 times after. No other Bible writer, not even all of them put together, has so much to say about grace.
And in Paul’s epistles, we find that this entire dispensation is marked by grace.
In Acts 20:24, speaking of the gospel for today, Paul said: “and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the GRACE of God.”
Ephesians 2:5 tells us that “by GRACE ye are saved.”
Grace teaches and trains us how to live: “For the GRACE of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:11,12).
Today, we are called by God to live according to His grace instructions for this dispensation, found in the writings of Paul.
Christ made known to Paul that this dispensation will close with a previously unrevealed event, with the Rapture, the catching away of the Body of Christ to heaven before Israel’s 7-year Tribulation period ever begins.
This dispensation began with grace and with an appearance of Christ from heaven to save Paul on the road to Damascus, and it closes with grace and an appearance of Christ from heaven at the Rapture.
Man’s failure has come from their rejection of the simple gospel of grace, and the church’s refusal to acknowledge or stand for Paul’s apostleship and the message of grace committed to him for us, the Church.
God’s judgment will come to believers in the form of loss of reward at the Judgment Seat of Christ, and to unbelievers, God’s judgment will be revealed at the Great White Throne.
Seventh, is the Dispensation of the Kingdom. Following the Rapture of the Body of Christ, God will resume His dealings with Israel and fulfill everything He promised her.
The next thing on the prophetic timetable is “the time of Jacob’s trouble,” when God will dispense His wrath on this world in the 7-year Tribulation. God’s wrath will be poured out through the Seal, Trumpet, and Bowl judgments.
At that time, Satan will attempt to counterfeit the worldwide kingdom of Christ through his Anti-Christ, and he will have one for a short period of 3 1/2 years.
But the Anti-Christ’s worldwide empire will be overthrown at the Second Coming, and Satan will be cast into the bottomless pit for 1000 years.
The true Christ will then establish His perfect worldwide, earthly kingdom, and God will dispense the kingdom of heaven on the earth.
In the dispensation of the kingdom, Christ will reign as King over all the earth for 1000 years. Justice and righteousness will fill the world. There will be peace on earth.
Israel will be the light to the world and a kingdom of priests. As priests, they will have the responsibility of leading the nations in worship of the true and living God.
Man’s failure will come when, at the close of the millennial kingdom, Satan will be loosed from the bottomless pit, and he will deceive the unbelieving who were born during the kingdom. He will raise an army, in number like “the sand of the sea,” in rebellion against Jesus Christ. And they will come up and surround the capital city of Jerusalem.
And at the Battle of Gog and Magog, God’s judgment will be poured out when fire reigns down from God out of heaven and destroys and consumes this great army. And Satan is then cast into the lake of fire forever.
Ephesians 1:10: “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.”
Eighth, is the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times. Following the Battle of Gog and Magog, when all the unbelieving have died, is the Great White Throne. All who appear at the Great White Throne are cast into the lake of fire forever.
God then dispenses the fullness of times, or the eternal state. There will be a new heaven and a new earth, and the new Jerusalem will descend from heaven to the new earth.
Believing Israel will reign in Christ “on earth,” as Ephesians 1:10 says, or on the new earth in the new Jerusalem for eternity. For us, the Church, the Body of Christ, we will reign in Christ “in heaven,” for eternity.
In the dispensation of the fullness of times, Christ will be over all, over all those in heaven and over all those on earth. And all will be one in Christ forever.
We will serve the Lord and worship Him with gladness for eternity. We will experience joy, peace, goodness, and love in Christ forever. Man will never fail God again.
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Rev. 21:4).
Mankind has been given so many opportunities, and every dispensation demonstrates man’s failure and deep need for God and His forgiveness and righteousness.
When man stands before Christ one day to be judged by Him at the Great White Throne, every single argument will be dismissed. In his fallen nature, man likes to play the blame game. And the Lord will likely use the dispensations to demonstrate His righteousness.
If man would try to say to the Lord, “If you had created me innocent, I would have obeyed you, I would never have failed You or turned from You.” And Christ will point to the testimony of Adam and Eve in the dispensation of innocence.
If a man tries to say, “If you had told me what exactly you expected out of me and given me your righteous standard for me to live by and guide me, I would have followed it step by step and done what was right.” And Christ will point to the testimony of Scripture of man under the law and his utter failure to keep the law.
If one would try to say, “If you had made the gospel of salvation simple, and let me live in freedom and grace, I would have believed and I would have served You.” He will point to the dispensation of grace and how man has failed in this dispensation.
Or if man would say, “If you had let me live in a perfect world of peace, justice, equity, and abundance with You reigning over it, I would have turned to You.” And Christ will point to the dispensation of the kingdom and show man’s failure at that time, too.
On that day, all will be left without excuse.
Mankind is responsible for obeying the will of God under the particular dispensation in which they are living. We are currently living during the dispensation of grace, and we have a responsibility to respond to God’s will for us under grace.
First, we must respond to the truth that we are saved by God’s grace alone, just believing that Christ died for our sins and rose again.
After trusting the gospel of grace, we are then called to respond to God’s grace instruction for the Church today, which is found in Paul’s letters, and to live by it.
As we do this, we will properly apply God’s Word to our lives, and we will be the people of grace who glorify God’s grace in His current dispensation.